More than three months since he was fired by the Orioles, Brandon Hyde has spoken about what went wrong.
Hyde, who was dismissed as manager May 17, said Thursday on MLB Network that there were “a lot of reasons behind” the Orioles’ “terrible” 15-28 start to the season. “We just had a tough time winning games,” Hyde said.
The consequence, ultimately, was Hyde’s job.
“They felt like they had to make a change,” he said.
The Orioles were expected to be one of the majors’ worst teams in 2022, but they surged in the summer to become a playoff contender, just missing out on a wild-card spot but ending the season above .500. Hyde was then the American League Manager of the Year in 2023 after helping lead the club to 101 wins — its most since 1979 — and the Orioles’ first AL East title since 2014. Baltimore then won 91 games the following year and made the playoffs in back-to-back seasons for the first time since the late 1990s.
Both 2023 and 2024 ended on sour notes, though, with playoff sweeps. Baltimore was bounced by the Texas Rangers in 2023 and the Kansas City Royals last season.
“We had three really good years,” Hyde said. “You go back where we exceeded a ton of expectations in ’22 and ’23, and in ’24, we were the first team to 70 wins last year. And then we had a ton of injuries late in the year and we got bounced out of the postseason, scoring one run against the Royals in two games. That was disappointing. And then just had a tough start to the year this year, and they felt like they had to make a change.”
Hyde said the rotation was a reason for the sluggish start — something he frequently cited over the first six weeks of the season. Orioles starting pitchers this year posted a 5.60 ERA during the 43 games with Hyde as manager. The only teams with worse marks over that time were the lowly Colorado Rockies and Miami Marlins.
The biggest rotation addition Orioles executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias made over the offseason was a $15 million deal for veteran Charlie Morton, who was so bad in April that he was moved to a bullpen role for the first time since he was a rookie in 2008. The Orioles were not able to replace what was lost when ace Corbin Burnes chose to sign with the Arizona Diamondbacks in the offseason. They also couldn’t overcome the injury absences of Kyle Bradish, Tyler Wells and, as Hyde noted, Grayson Rodriguez, who didn’t pitch in an MLB game this season and underwent elbow surgery in August.
“We had a tough time rotation-wise, and it kind of started with Grayson [Rodriguez] getting hurt in spring training,” Hyde said. “That was somebody we were relying on to really take the next step. He’s got top-of-the-rotation stuff, and I thought he was going to take that next step this year. Unfortunately, he got hurt, so rotation-wise, we had a tough time staying in the game, the first 40-something games I was there.”
Hyde also referenced injury issues — such as ones to Jordan Westburg, Colton Cowser and the starting pitchers — and “underperformance on offense” as causes for the poor start. The Orioles are 45-46 since Hyde was fired and interim manager Tony Mansolino took over.
“But everybody has injuries, so that’s not an excuse,” Hyde added. “We just didn’t play very good baseball the first month of the season.”
Two players Hyde was asked about were Jackson Holliday and Adley Rutschman. Holliday emerged as the Orioles’ leadoff hitter at the end of Hyde’s tenure but he’s struggled in recent months, while Rutschman followed up a disappointing 2024 season with an injury-filled 2025.
He expressed similar sentiments about Rutschman as he did when he was the Orioles’ skipper. Rutschman “carries a heavy load” as a catcher and a middle-of-the-order bat, Hyde said, which has resulted in the 27-year-old putting too much “pressure on himself.” Still, Hyde anticipates Rutschman will once again be the star player he was in 2022 and 2023.
“I think he is going to be that leader type we all envisioned him being, because his makeup is off the charts and he’s got the ability, hits from both sides, can command a game behind the plate, has won a lot of games in his career already,” Hyde said.
Hyde also said it was “probably unfair” to Holliday that the Orioles promoted him in April 2024 when he was only 20 years old with little Triple-A experience. Despite the up-and-down start to Holliday’s big league career, Hyde remains optimistic that the youngster will reach his potential.
“Jackson’s going to be a great player in this game,” Hyde said. “Sometimes it just takes a little more time.”
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