Former Orioles shortstop and Hall of Famer Mike Bordick isn’t buying the idea that late-season miscues were just on the players. In his view, the coaching staff had plenty to do with them, and that includes manager Craig Albernaz.
Bordick made his case while discussing Baltimore’s final-week controversies on “The Daily Flock,” pointing directly to the basics the staff is supposed to hammer home. His biggest example was the reminder that players need to be ready for an afternoon game with sunglasses, something he said should never be left unsaid.
“It was always reminded, even in the big leagues,” Bordick said, “make sure you’ve got your sunglasses on, by my infield coach. I don’t know, was it not talked about? ...
It’s up to the player to take responsibility for that, but also the coaches to be there to remind guys. That’s the only reason big league coaches are there, for one responsibility - remind guys how good they have to be.
That’s it.”
The comments came after Albernaz spent the final week of the season taking shots at two players, Rece Hinds and Jeremiah Jackson, rather than owning the broader issues around the roster and the team’s play. Bordick said those mistakes belong to the manager and his staff, not just the individuals involved.
He also pushed back on the idea that Jackson’s decision to swing after a string of pitches in the dirt was somehow outside the manager’s control.
“That’s definitely on the manager, there ain’t no doubt about that,” Bordick said, “and I know he threw Jeremiah under the bus saying you assume it’s a baseball thought process. ‘Oh my gosh he threw 10 balls in a row.’
But that’s the analytic mindset that says, ‘The next pitch, if it’s on the plate, I have to be ready to hit it.’ So there you go …
“Coaches are there to remind players every detail of the game. Now, if a guy steps in the box and everyone in the whole stadium said, ‘Oh, he’s taking the pitch,’ … It’s still up to the manager to say he is taking a pitch.
This has happened for 100-plus years in the game of baseball. When a third base coach points at you, I don’t care if you are Jose Canseco or Adley Rutschman or Gunnar Henderson - you have to take.
That means the manager has complete control.
“So this throwing it up in the air and assuming … why Albernaz didn’t take full responsibility of that, and even the glasses thing, that is on us as a coaching staff. It is not on us as a player. Period.”
Bordick also questioned one of the decisions that followed Hinds’ benching, noting that Albernaz then put him back in and watched him strike out five times against the Yankees in a season-ending game in which Baltimore struck out 17 times. He pointed out that Heston Kjerstad, a former second-overall pick, was on the bench for that one.
“This is the head scratcher for all of us fans of baseball,” Bordick said. “If analytics are so incredible, then how can it lead us down this path of terrible baseball, and terrible baseball decisions?”
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