PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. — It’s not the view he’s used to, but Brandon Hyde has learned to appreciate watching baseball games from a suite this spring.

Just a year ago, he was down at field level, spitting seeds in the Orioles dugout while sweating under the Florida sun. Now the former Baltimore manager has swapped his orange jersey for the Tampa Bay Rays’ blue. Instead of managing, he has an advisory role that will send him up and down the East Coast through all levels of baseball.

It was hard to say what was stranger for the former Baltimore manager on Thursday afternoon at Charlotte Sports Park — Hyde’s new role slightly farther from the action, or seeing the team he coached last year visit for a game against his new franchise.

“It’s a weird feeling,” Hyde said in a scrum just before the Orioles played the Rays. “I just had six-plus great years there, great relationships with a lot of people over there. It’s just a strange feeling, kind of the way it happened in May and then not seeing people for a while. But it’s great to see these guys.”

The last time the Orioles saw Hyde was on his way out. After a disappointing 15-28 start to the 2025 season and losing 10 games over a stretch of 12, Hyde was fired by general manager Mike Elias, ending a partnership that had spanned a painful rebuild and reached an apex with the 2023 American League East title.

Although Hyde didn’t cite specific regrets, he acknowledged, “I wish I could have done more and would have done more.

“It started really in spring training for me with injuries — lost a bunch of guys in spring, and then the first series of the year, we lost a few key players and just never got going,” he said. “It was a challenge, really, from day one. I wish I would have done more to help in certain ways, but it was tough from the very beginning.”

Hyde went 421-492 with the Orioles, absorbing a 110-loss season in 2021 but leading the AL with 101 wins in 2023. Hyde’s teams went to the playoffs twice but were 0-5 in their appearances.

Nearly 10 months removed from his dismissal, Hyde couldn’t muster a bad thing to say about the Orioles.

Citing MLB’s best record over the 2023 and 2024 seasons, Hyde added he was proud of the 2022 team that overshot its dismal preseason projections to win 83 games.

“[We] came out of nowhere and beat in people,” he said.

The successes loom much larger to him than the failures, and even the team as it is structured now reminds him of all he did to help build the foundation.

“I’m always gonna remember them fondly,” he said. “Always gonna be proud of where we started and the product they’re putting on the field now. You know, it’s electric, and it’s a great, great team, so, you know, it’d be a part of building that. I’m gonna be proud of that.”

Hyde also thanked Elias for giving him the chance to manage, though he acknowledged the two have communicated only briefly since he was fired.

At least one of his Baltimore relationships has been rekindled. The Rays signed Cedric Mullins this offseason, and Hyde said he was happy to see his former everyday center fielder get a new opportunity. “I’ve always been a big fan of Cedric, but they’re seeing it firsthand here how much of a pro he is.”

Hyde’s new job will keep him a lot closer to his Venice, Florida, home than managing the Orioles did. He’ll work with the Rays during home games, then help instructors throughout their farm system when the big league club is on the road. He’ll also get to keep an eye on his son, junior prospect Colton Hyde, who recently committed to play baseball at Michigan and plays prep ball in Sarasota.

Ultimately, Hyde said, he hopes to manage again.

“I really enjoyed it. I love managing. I look back very fondly on those six-plus years,” he said. “I’m hoping that someday the situation comes along where it’s a good fit and someone gives me an opportunity.”