⚡ LATEST UPDATE: Baltimore brings in veteran Padres manager to elevate top prospects and strengthen organizational depth ⚡ .MH
As the Baltimore Orioles continue to build a new regime on and off the field, their latest hire is a name that plenty of baseball fans will recognize.
According to MASN’s Roch Kubatko, the Orioles are hiring Mike Shildt as an upper-level minor league coordinator of instruction, putting him in a player development role. This was one of two moves the Orioles made on Wednesday, as Kubatko also reported that Latin American coordinator of instruction Samuel Vega is now the lower-level coordinator of instruction.
Shildt, 57, is best known for his successful managerial tenures with the St. Louis Cardinals and San Diego Padres, boasting a 435-340 record (.561 winning percentage) as a major league skipper. He won the National League Manager of the Year Award with each club, winning with the Cardinals in 2019 and the Padres in 2024. This past season, Shildt led San Diego to their second consecutive 90-win season and playoff berth, but announced his retirement from managing after the season despite having two years left on his contract.
Although transitioning from an on-field to an off-field role is never easy, Shildt has a wealth of player development experience that makes him a great fit for this role with the Orioles. He was initially hired by the Padres in a player development role back in 2022 before eventually returning to the dugout; Shildt also began his baseball career as a scout and coached or managed each of the Cardinals’ minor league teams.
Perhaps the Orioles are looking to improve their defense with the hiring of Shildt; the Padres and Cardinals teams he managed have been known for exceptional play in the field. His 2021 Cardinals in particular not only won the team Gold Glove Award, but featured an MLB record five Gold Glove recipients. This season, the Orioles had a -22 Fielding Run Value (seventh worst in MLB) -32 Defensive Runs Saved (tired for sixth worst), and -23 Outs Above Average (eighth worst).
As for Vega, the Orioles hired him as the Latin America field coordinator back in 2022; this allowed him to oversee international prospects such as Samuel Basallo, who is one of Baltimore’s primary building blocks today. For his efforts, Vega received the Cal Ripken Sr. Player Development Award in 2024.
While the Orioles try to bounce back from an immensely disappointing 2025 season, they will also nurture a newly replenished farm system after selling at the trade deadline. Some of these new prospects include pitchers Wellington Aracena, Juaron Watts-Brown, Anthony Nunez, and Boston Bateman, shortstop Wilfri De La Cruz, and infielder Cobb Hightower. Meanwhile, other prospects like Enrique Bradfield Jr. will look to join Basallo and Dylan Beavers at the big league level.
With the highly reputable Shildt in tow, Baltimore’s new crop of “Baby Birds” should be in good hands as they develop into major leaguers.
