This story was excerpted from Jake Rill’s Orioles Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
BALTIMORE -- Two weeks ago, the Orioles’ coaching staff underwent a significant shakeup.
Manager Brandon Hyde and field coordinator/catching instructor Tim Cossins were dismissed. Tony Mansolino, who had been the third-base coach since 2021, was promoted to interim skipper, unexpectedly thrown into his first MLB managerial job on the fly.
The changes continued Friday, when Baltimore hired longtime coach John Mabry as a senior advisor to the Major League staff, adding a veteran voice to a mostly inexperienced room.
Amid the flurry of moves since May 17 -- the most noteworthy clearly being Mansolino taking over for Hyde -- one that occurred that day went a bit more under the radar.
Major League coach Buck Britton has taken over Mansolino’s old job as third-base coach/infield coach. Less than two months into his first season in the big leagues, the 39-year-old Britton has taken on more responsibilities than he expected heading into the year.
“I think I’m settling in. The game’s kind of slowing down a little bit,” said Britton, who was previously Triple-A Norfolk’s manager from 2022-24. “It’s just different when you’re managing a team in Triple-A and you make a mistake, you kind of mess yourself up.”
In one way, Britton was sort of his own boss during his Minor League managerial career, which included previous stints with Single-A Delmarva (2018) and Double-A Chesapeake (2019-21). He worked as the third-base coach for those clubs while also serving as the skipper, so any mistakes he made waving around baserunners (or holding them) came back on himself.
Now, Britton’s decisions in the third-base coaching box can have an impact on Mansolino, too.
“A little hectic when you’re doing all that. But here, everything is magnified. So it’s a very important job,” Britton said. “You want to do such a good job for Manso and make sure that you’re making the right reads and making sure that he looks good at the end.”
It helps that Mansolino understands the role, considering he had been the Orioles’ third-base coach since 2021. It’s also beneficial that he and Britton have such a strong relationship.
When Mansolino was hired by Baltimore, he spoke with his friend Kyle Hudson, a former O’s outfielder who is now Boston’s third-base coach. Hudson -- who was the bench coach for Triple-A Columbus in Cleveland’s system when Mansolino was manager -- told Mansolino he would become fond of Britton, a former Minor League player and the older brother of former Orioles closer Zack Britton.
“When I got hired here, Huddy said, ‘Hey, you’re going to like Buck,’” Mansolino said. “So right away in ‘21, he kind of became my guy.”
In recent years, Mansolino and Britton often communicated about infield prospects at the Triple-A level, talking about areas that needed improvement and sharing progress being made by the young players. They also worked together coaching the infielders in Spring Training -- never more so than this year, when Britton was added to the MLB staff.
Mansolino could tell Britton would be a valuable presence to have in Baltimore.
“I was an advocate for him to be put on the staff in a lot of ways,” Mansolino said. “Think he’s a good baseball guy, he’s got a bright future in this game and definitely somebody that I trust and I can ask, ‘Hey, did I mess this up?’ And he will absolutely tell me the truth, which I appreciate.”
The affinity is mutual, as Britton has relied heavily on Mansolino early in his big league coaching career, especially now that both have increased day-to-day duties with the Orioles.
“For me, somebody that hadn’t been in the big leagues, he was somebody that I could lean on to help understand the differences between the two levels -- what needs to happen in Triple-A so that it will show up positive in the big leagues, how to develop winning players and then, obviously, when it comes to coaching third base, he’s done a really nice job here,” Britton said. “So I’ve picked his brain on how to scout and do those things. But it’s been an open line of communication, and he’s a really good dude.”