O's new third base coach looks to find right level of agressiveness

Just like an umpire that is sometimes not noticed until a missed call, a third base coach can be lost in the background. Until something goes wrong on the bases, like a runner being cut down at the plate.

The Orioles have a new third base coach this year. Tony Mansolino, 38, is the youngest member of the Baltimore coaching staff and he doubles as infield instructor. He comes to the club after spending 10 years in the Cleveland organization.

He spent the first five seasons with the Indians, from 2011-2015 as a minor league batting coach. Then he was manager on the Cleveland farm from 2016-2019. He managed Single-A Lynchburg to a record of 87-52 in 2017. They won the Carolina League title and he was the league's Manager of the Year. He led Triple-A Columbus to an 81-59 record and an International League championship in 2019.

Four years, two titles. Not bad.

Mansolino was not officially on the Indians' major league staff in 2020, but he filled in as third base coach when manager Terry Francona was away from the team dealing with medical issues. He managed just 14 games.

So now Mansolino joins the Orioles and looks to make as many good decisions as possible in the third base coaching box. Looking to be aggressive when the situation calls for it.

"I'm asking a lot of questions," he said during a Sunday morning Zoom interview. "Right now, I'm trying to understand how he wants the game to be run from that spot. Really, I'm an extension of Hyder (manager Brandon Hyde). I need to do my job the way he wants me to do my job. I think what's good is him and I are very much on the same page as we discuss the situations. I think we come from a very similar school of baseball in how we think about the game. So we're in a good spot.

"Ultimately, I want his guidance. I want to know what he's thinking in terms of the situational part of coaching third. So much of it is predicated on situations. You know your tolerance for risk with zero outs is a lot lower than what it is for two outs, obviously. So we need to be on the same page and think where are we willing to take a risk and where are we not. At the end of the day, I think as long as we make those decisions with all those factors in mind, if they go south or they go bad, I think we can certainly live with that."

Being a youthful coach could have benefits as Mansolino looks to relate to, understand and help some of the younger Orioles. The championships his teams won on the Cleveland farm show us he's got some knowledge on how to develop young talent.

"I think it's really important," he said. "Especially being here and kind of seeing, you know, we have a pretty good mix of veterans and younger guys. You've got guys like Freddy Galvis and Yolmer Sánchez, some guys that have kind of been there and done that with a lot of success in the major leagues. I think with those guys we are helping them get prepared for a major league season as much as anything. And we have some younger guys or maybe guys that haven't played a position in a while, like Trey Mancini, or still a little bit of an inexperienced third baseman in Rio Ruiz. And then some of our minor league prospects, who are definitely still at that stage of their career where they are developing.

"I think having the experience in Cleveland of being around a lot of young infielders that became impact major leaguer infielders and seeing what their journey looked like in the stage of their development, I certainly think it gives us as little bit of an advantage of understanding what these guys are going through as they develop on their way to the majors."

Mansolino is getting to know all the players with the Orioles and they are all new to him. He was asked about two of the young infielders during his Sunday interview, and he discussed Gunnar Henderson, the club's second-round pick in 2019, and Jordan Westburg, the team's Competitive Balance Round A pick last summer.

"You know he's physical," Mansolino said of Westburg. "He's a big kid. Him and Gunnar Henderson, both of them. You know, they are younger guys - Gunnar is a little younger than Westy - but they are just physical infielders. As you watch them, I think when you see a bigger kid, you dream on these kids and you want to compare them to the kid in L.A., (Corey) Seager. You know, that type of a middle infielder body. And as you watch these guys right now, you see traits of that.

"I saw Seager when he was in Low-A with the Dodgers in Great Lakes for the whole year. And both these guys remind of that a little bit. Westburg being a college signing, so it's a little bit different for him. But they are just big, physical middle infielders and it's exciting. I think when they get big you worry about movement and agility and things like that, quickness in the infield and they have it. So the quickness and agility with the physical bodies and ability to swing the bat, it's a really exciting couple of players for us in our organization."

Reminded by a reporter that he once played with a future National League MVP in the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League in 2005 in Andrew McCutchen, Mansolino was asked if any current Orioles remind him of the former Pirates star?

"I'm just learning the system right now. I hope and I think there is a lot of hope here that we have those types of guys coming on the way," Mansolino said. "But we also have to understand it is a process for some of these guys. A month in spring training or getting drafted last year and not playing in any minor league games, it's hard to put that label on those guys when they haven't done it yet. We certainly have that level of excitement for several of our guys."

Off-day follows rough loss: The Orioles got smoked 13-1 by Pittsburgh on Sunday in Bradenton. That is three consecutive losses by 13-4 to Toronto and 6-5 to Detroit before Sunday's blowout.

The Orioles have a few things to clean up when they regroup after today's off-day.

"We've got to start playing better defense," Hyde said postgame yesterday. "Our work on the back fields in the mornings is great. It's been fantastic, actually, as good as I've seen it, from the standpoint of the work they're getting in. We're just not translating it into the games. We need to play better defense overall and help our pitchers out a little bit more.

"On the mound, we've got to start throwing more strikes and start getting some earlier contact and not having the long innings. So it's a little bit of a combination of we've got to get better at throwing strikes and we've got to catch the ball better."

The Orioles (2-5-1) have seen their last four starters - Dean Kremer, Matt Harvey, Félix Hernández and John Means - allow 12 runs in 7 2/3 innings.

Some of the numbers for the hitters are better. Cedric Mullins is batting .400 (6-for-15) with a double, triple and three RBIs. Austin Hays is also hitting .400 (4-for-10) with a homer and two RBIs.