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 -- For the past three seasons, the Orioles had a veteran bench coach with 10 years of MLB managerial experience. That was 60-year-old Fredi Gonz¨¢lez, who was often stationed next to manager Brandon Hyde in Baltimore¡¯s dugout throughout games.

The O¡¯s went in the complete opposite direction when hiring a new bench coach last month.

Next year, the role will belong to former big league catcher Robinson Chirinos, who has never previously served as a coach at any level. The 40-year-old played his 11th and final MLB season for the Orioles in 2022, ending a career that featured stints with the Rangers, Astros, Cubs, Rays and Mets.

Although Hyde spent only one season managing Chirinos, Baltimore¡¯s skipper could tell the Punto Fijo, Venezuela, native would have a bright future as a coach.

¡°He was already a coach as a player there toward the end of his career,¡± Hyde said at the Winter Meetings in Dallas earlier this week. ¡°Unbelievable with young players, great perspective of the game, really helped change the culture for us a couple years ago. I'm really excited about adding him.¡±

Chirinos will already be familiar with some of the Orioles¡¯ core young players. His final big league season coincided with fellow catcher Adley Rutschman¡¯s rookie campaign. Infielder Gunnar Henderson also got his first taste of the Majors late that year.

The other position players who remain from the 2022 O¡¯s are infielder/outfielder Jorge Mateo, first baseman Ryan Mountcastle, center fielder Cedric Mullins and infielder Ram¨®n Ur¨ªas.

Baltimore¡¯s new hitting coach will be familiar with even more of the club¡¯s players. That job now belongs to Cody Asche, the 34-year-old former big league infielder/outfielder who spent the past two seasons as the Orioles¡¯ offensive strategy coach.

What made Asche the right person to lead the O¡¯s hitting staff in 2025? General manager Mike Elias explained the decision earlier this week at the Winter Meetings.

¡°Cody has been a successful member of our hitting department, starting in the Minor Leagues, helped develop a lot of these young position players that we have that are forming the backbone of our team, and then made a really good transition to being a Major League coach,¡± Elias said. ¡°He was a little bit in the background of our hitting group, just given his job duties and the title that he had, but was right there in the thick of things with all of our hitting guys. ...

¡°He¡¯s somebody that we value really highly and have continued to promote. I think this is a huge opportunity for him, and he is a former Major League player, too, so he knows what it's all about. Just a good blend of skills, and our players really like and respect him.¡±

Asche will work with a pair of assistant hitting coaches -- Tommy Joseph (who served in the same role for the Mariners in 2024) and Sherman Johnson (a first time big league coach).

This past season, the Orioles ranked fourth in MLB in runs (786), second in homers (235) and tied for fourth in OPS (.750). However, they struggled at times down the stretch, as their 108 September runs ranked 15th. Then, they scored only one run while getting swept in two games by the Royals in the American League Wild Card Series in October.

Hyde was asked this week whether he expected his new hitting coaches to implement any changes in philosophies following the team¡¯s slow finish to 2024.

¡°I think we're going to have some meetings on that going forward a little bit. We're getting the hitting coaches together,¡± Hyde said. ¡°We scored a ton of runs, especially the first half, and a lot of that came from homers and slug. We had some guys with their walk totals that were down from their normal years. I think you're going to see that go back up.

¡°We still believe in creating runs with our speed and contact, but also we have the ability to hit a home run. If you look at our lineup, it's not a ton of experience in there, and I think that as guys get year after year, I think they're going to continue to improve.¡±