Orioles hire Matt Trate as minor league hitting coach

One of the offseason trends for the Orioles involves the hiring of college coaches to minor league positions, and the announcements coming via their Twitter accounts.

Social media working its magic again.

The latest confirmation arrived Tuesday night, with Matt Trate tweeting that "my family and I are looking forward to the next chapter with @Orioles as I have accepted a position as a MiLB hitting coach."

Trate had been working as associate head baseball coach/recruiting coordinator at Goldey-Beacom College in Wilmington, Del. He spent three seasons with the program and was the first assistant in the Division II era.

The team's official website described Trate's main on-field responsibility as "developing the team's hitters and offensive philosophy."

Trate didn't reveal where he'd be coaching. The Orioles will announce their staffs this week.

Harford Community College coach Tom Eller already tweeted that he's joining short-season Single-A Aberdeen, which is managed by Kevin Bradshaw. Nova Southeastern University pitching coach Justin Ramsey tweeted that he accepted a minor league position with the Orioles and is headed to low Single-A Delmarva.

Justin Lord was the Shorebirds' pitching coach the past two summers. He held the same title at Aberdeen from 2014-16.

Shorebirds manager Buck Britton is moving up to Double-A Bowie to replace Gary Kendall, who is replacing Ron Johnson at Triple-A Norfolk.

Meanwhile, Baseball America's minor league transactions include the Orioles releasing left-hander Jed Bradley and first baseman Patrick Leyland.

Bradley is listed on the voluntarily retired list, so this must be some sort of a paper move. He walked away from the game in 2017.

Leyland, son of former manager Jim Leyland, served in a coaching capacity at Bowie last summer and will remain in the Orioles organization, though he's expected to change affiliates.

The White Sox signed third baseman Chris Johnson, son of Ron Johnson and a former Orioles minor leaguer. The Rockies signed former Orioles pitcher Alec Asher.