Orioles to turn over entire major league hitting staff as Cody Asche departs for Tigers

After Baltimore’s offensive performance dipped across the board during a downtrodden 2025 campaign, the Orioles will bring in a new major league hitting staff under manager Craig Albernaz.

Lead hitting coach Cody Asche is expected to join the Detroit Tigers’ coaching staff, according to a source. The Athletic, which first reported the move, said Asche will be an assistant hitting coach for the Tigers.

Assistant hitting coaches Tommy Joseph and Sherman Johnson are also leaving Baltimore, according to multiple sources. Johnson is joining the Chicago White Sox as a minor league hitting coordinator, two sources said last week.

In addition, The Athletic reported that Orioles first base coach Anthony Sanders will take over the same position in Detroit. It continues an overhaul of the coaching staff, which includes bench coach Robinson Chirinos leaving.

Sanders had been given permission to talk with other clubs. He had been in Baltimore since 2020.

Asche, a former major leaguer for the Philadelphia Phillies and Chicago White Sox, began his coaching career with the Orioles’ minor leaguers in 2022. He joined the major league staff under then-manager Brandon Hyde in 2023.

On Tuesday, during Albernaz’s introductory press conference, president of baseball operations Mike Elias said the conversations are ongoing with coaches in the organization.

“Not really the time or place to get into all that, but suffice to say there will be alterations to the composition of the staff,” Elias said. “That’s normal year-to-year, but also when you have a manager change. We definitely want the ability for him [Albernaz] to put his stamp on the staff. I think a big part of our hire and knowing the talent that we’re bringing into the organization with a guy like Craig Albernaz is we want them to ply his trade and have an impact in the clubhouse, on the field with the way our team prepares, trains and competes, and part of that is choosing some staff members around him. We’re collaborating together on it, but it’s something I want him to be able to shape and we’ll finalize these [hires] the best we can.”

Albernaz said he knows he’s not an expert, which will ensure he’ll continue to lean on those around him for help.

“I need all that input for me, that feedback, because sometimes you get a little too close to the action and you’re usually a little jaded, and you need the checks and balances of either the coaching staff or front office members, as well, to kind of keep the main thing the main thing,” Albernaz said. “That’s what I’m going to rely on, that collaborative effort.”

The Orioles struggled offensively for the last season and a half, and ahead of the 2025 season, Matt Borgschulte departed for the Minnesota Twins and Ryan Fuller joined the Chicago White Sox. Asche was elevated into the lead position with Johnson and Joseph around him.

Baltimore finished with a .235 average, which ranked 24th in the majors, and a .699 on-base-plus-slugging percentage, which ranked 21st.