BALTIMORE -- This was never how Tony Mansolino envisioned getting his first opportunity to be an MLB manager. The circumstances that led to the 42-year-old becoming the Orioles’ interim skipper on Saturday were less than ideal -- for the team, for himself, for everybody involved.
After a highly disappointing 15-28 start to the 2025 campaign, Baltimore relieved Brandon Hyde of his managerial duties. Mansolino, who had been the club’s third-base coach since ‘21, was given the interim tag that he will now carry for the rest of the season.
“Not excited. This isn’t a good thing for us. We’re going to miss Brandon in a lot of ways. To me, he did a great job here,” Mansolino said after the O’s lost, 10-6, to the Nationals at Camden Yards in his managerial debut. “You don’t see yourself in this position. I’m not a former ex-Major League player. I’m a bad Minor League player, is what I was. I’m a guy that I haven’t sat in the manager’s seat in six years. I did it in Triple-A in 2019, but it’s been a while since I’ve done it.
“So I don’t think you see yourself doing this. I thought maybe, you know, 10 years down the road if I was able to hang in this thing a little bit longer, maybe you get consideration for a spot like this. But it’s certainly not something that you’re looking to do right now.”
Don’t confuse Mansolino’s loyalty to his former boss with a lack of passion. He loves the Orioles organization and the players he has worked with over the past five seasons, and he is ready to do his best in helping the club turn its season around.
Saturday’s defeat was another tough one. The Nationals scored six runs in the first inning against Kyle Gibson, who recorded only two outs and saw his ERA rise to 16.78 through four starts. A four-run rally in the bottom of the ninth -- featuring a three-run homer by Jackson Holliday -- wasn’t enough to overcome the early deficit.
The O’s (4-21 when their opponents score first) again couldn’t climb out of an early hole.
As for Baltimore’s larger hole -- a 15-29 record, with 14 games below .500 marking its lowest point since finishing 52-110 in 2021 -- Mansolino truly believes there’s enough time for the season to get turned around.
“Absolutely,” Mansolino said.
The first step?
“I mean, listen, we’ve got to get to .500,” Mansolino said. “I think as you start thinking, and my mind’s turning today, ‘What do we need to do?’ I think our goal right now has to be to get to .500. We played a couple years ago [in 2023] at a 40 games over .500 pace, right? I think it was 101 wins, something like that?
“If you can get back to some semblance of that, you can get back in the hunt. The reality is one of those Wild Card spots is probably not going to be 95 wins, it’s probably going to be less than that. So I think, short-term goal for the team, we have to frame it as ‘get back to .500.’ I think we’ve got a couple months to do that.”
Mansolino has developed a strong reputation in the game. His father, Doug, was a coach for various MLB teams from 1992-2007. He has managerial experience, having been a skipper at every level of the Minor Leagues in the Cleveland organization from 2016-19.
The players in the Orioles’ clubhouse are sad to see Hyde go. They feel responsible for his firing because of their below-average play.
At the same time, they’re putting their faith in the well-liked Mansolino moving forward. Several players praised his energy and competitive spirit as traits that could guide him to strong results.
“I think he’s going to do awesome,” Gibson said. “It’s not exactly how anybody wants to be thrown into the fire like that. But I think he’s going to be a lot of fun to play for.”
“He has a good rapport with the guys,” said veteran center fielder Cedric Mullins, Baltimore’s longest-tenured player. “I know he's been able to watch and observe what Hyder has done over the years. If he feels like there's some tweaks that could be made, that's up to him. But we have his back as a team moving forward, through and through.”
There’s an uphill climb ahead. Baltimore has never reached the postseason in a year in which it started 15-29 or worse.
But Mansolino and his O’s aren’t planning to quit.
“We have to be consistent. We can’t overreact,” Mansolino said. “There’s a lot of time left. There’s a ton of urgency. I’m not saying there hasn’t been or it’s unique to have urgency at this point. But there has been a ton of urgency, there will be a ton of urgency going forward. And we’ll continue to push as hard as we can.”