Orioles making significant change to coaching staff

Chris Holt will not return to the Baltimore Orioles’ MLB staff as pitching coach, reports Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com. He will remain in the organization as its director of pitching, a position he has held concurrently with the pitching coach title for a few seasons. Assistant pitching coach Darren Holmes is departing the organization entirely, Kubatko adds. The rest of Brandon Hyde’s staff is expected to return for what will be the manager’s sixth season.

Holt, 44, has been with Baltimore since 2019. He had previously worked with the Astros, following former Houston executive Mike Elias to Baltimore when the latter was hired as general manager. Holt was named to the MLB staff going into 2021. The O’s apparently prefer to allow him to focus more consistently on the overhead role that allows him to work with MLB and minor league arms alike.

Holmes joined Baltimore going into the 2020 season as bullpen coach. He was bumped to assistant pitching coach a year later. The 57-year-old had a 13-year big league playing career and had previously spent a half-decade as bullpen coach of the Colorado Rockies.

The O’s are likely to add two new coaches to fill the vacancies on the pitching side. Otherwise, they seem set to run with the same group they had in 2023. Fredi Gonzalez is the bench coach, while Matt Borgschulte and Ryan Fuller serve as co-hitting coaches.