BALTIMORE -- The seats in the front row at Craig Albernaz’s introductory press conference inside the Camden Yards warehouse on Tuesday morning were filled with those closest to the new Orioles manager. On the left side, his wife, Genevieve, sat with their three kids -- sons CJ and Norman and daughter Gigi.
Then, sitting on the right side were Guardians manager Stephen Vogt and his wife, Alyssa.
It’s not often an active MLB manager attends an event to celebrate a contemporary who is about to become an opponent during the next season. But Vogt and Albernaz have such a close relationship that Vogt wanted to be there for Albernaz.
“I’ve known Craig for a really long time, one of my best friends in the game of baseball, and I couldn’t miss this. I had to be here to support him,” Vogt said. “It’s an exciting day for all of us, because Craig’s earned this and more, and just so ecstatic for him. He’s going to absolutely crush it.”
Vogt and Albernaz were both catchers in Tampa Bay’s system from 2007-12. They each interviewed for Cleveland’s managerial opening when Terry Francona stepped down from the role following the ‘23 season.
Although Vogt beat out his friend for the job, he got Albernaz to join the staff, with Albernaz serving as the Guardians’ bench coach in 2024, then getting promoted to associate manager in ‘25. It was a close working relationship, one Vogt described as an equal partnership.
It’s also why Vogt knows Albernaz is ready to run his own team as a big league manager.
“He will always put the players first and foremost, and that’s what’s going to help create that atmosphere and that culture here that is going to help them thrive,” Vogt said. “He’s the hardest worker I’ve ever been around. The hours that he puts in, the time that he puts in, he’s prepared for everything. He’s over-prepared.”
As Albernaz spoke at Tuesday’s press conference, he stopped multiple times because he didn’t want to tear up, stating he’s “not an emotional guy.” But the tone in his voice shifted each time he talked about Vogt and what the two accomplished in leading Cleveland to back-to-back American League Central titles the past two seasons.
Albernaz expressed his gratitude for the Guardians’ leadership group, while also campaigning for Vogt to become a two-time AL Manager of the Year Award winner. (Vogt is among the three finalists for the 2025 season.)
“They brought me into pretty much every meeting, every conversation they had. So I got to see the inner works and all those conversations, what really goes into being a big league manager,” Albernaz said. “It's not just being in a dugout with the coaching staff and the boys. A lot of your day is consumed by what happens before the game. So I kind of got to see that. It really opened up my eyes in being able to navigate those conversations and also notice the leader that Vogty is -- a communicator with the coaching staff and the players and how he goes about just being a great person and who he is.
“That's something that I learned from him, and that's something I'm forever grateful for.”
The lighthearted dynamic between Vogt and Albernaz was caught on camera this past season, when the two shared a fun moment in the Guardians’ dugout. The clip showed Albernaz tossing a bunch of sunflower seeds at Vogt in the middle of a game.
Albernaz has a serious side -- one that came out when he and Vogt had to make decisions -- but he isn’t afraid to have fun at the right times, either.
“He challenged me to think differently. He never let me get away, which is why you saw the seeds,” Vogt said. “The seed toss was because I threw out a dumb idea and he called me on it and I yelled at him about it, and so he threw seeds at me and it went viral. But that was us every day.”
Vogt thinks that as long Albernaz is himself, he’ll have success in Baltimore. And Vogt will be rooting for his friend from afar -- well, at least for most of the season.
“It’s going to be really awkward and fun when we do play each other, but I’ll be rooting for the Baltimore Orioles, except for seven times during the regular season,” Vogt said. “There’s going to be a lot of trash talk back and forth, that’s for sure.”