The Orioles are going to hire Jason Bourgeois as their new first base coach. Andy Kostka of The Baltimore Banner was first to report the news. He will replace Anthony Sanders, who was plucked away by the Tigers last week.
Bourgeois, 43, played in the majors from 2008 to 2015. He continued playing in the minors leagues and in Mexico through 2018. He then pivoted to coaching, starting in the Dodgers’ minor league system in 2019.
He has spent the past two years as the first base coach for the White Sox. When Bourgeois was hired going into 2024, Pedro Grifol was the skipper. Grifol was fired before that season was over. Grady Sizemore took over on an interim basis before Will Venable got the job in 2025. The Sox retained most of the coaching staff in Venable’s first year but the club announced multiple changes in September, with Bourgeois among the many coaches not being brought back.
He lands a new role with a familiar face. As pointed out by Kostka, new Orioles manager Craig Albernaz and Bourgeois played together at Triple-A Durham in 2013, when both were players in the Rays’ system.
Albernaz still has some other vacancies to fill on his staff. Robinson Chirinos is not coming back as bench coach. Assistant hitting coaches Sherman Johnson and Tommy Joseph have also departed for opportunities elsewhere. It’s unclear if Buck Britton will continue as third base coach. He took over that spot on an interim basis when Tony Mansolino became interim manager after Brandon Hyde was fired. Mansolino is heading to Atlanta to be third base coach with that club.
Photo courtesy of Matt Marton, Imagn Images
I figured Buck Britton and Robinson Chirinos were (and might still) stay with the club. I’m some capacity. Orioles seemed to have Buck and Robbie in high regard.
Maybe Buck stays. He came up in the minors with a lot of the core but I think Chirinos is gone.
For my part, I really want Buck Britton to stay, an extremely aggressive 3rd base coach sending guys when conventional wisdom says to hold them at third. And a lot of the time those aggressive calls worked out based on what i was watching, Beyond that, he seems like a very heady baseball guy. I don’t know if managing is in his future but the guy will be finding jobs consistently even if it isn’t in B’more. From an obviously outside perspective, he seems to connect with the players he is around.
Managing is very much in his future, just as it has been in his past.
Would be fun if their 3rd base coach is coming from ploretariat class
Right? All scruffy Celtic jig playing in steerage aboard, or under, the Titanic
I ALWAYS figured this dude as one who would peddle and trade upon his name and familial influence for shallow trappings.
You can’t steal First Base. But First Base coaches- fair game?