The Baltimore Orioles yesterday hired former Cleveland infield instructor Tony Mansolino to be their third base coach starting in 2021. Mansolino is a former career minor leaguer, and has managed at the minor league level as well. Along as I said with being the infield instructor in Cleveland.
Mansolino coached and is friends with former Oriole Ryan Flaherty, who gave his friend a rousing endorsement (quote courtesy of Roch Kubatko, MASNsports:
He’s good, he’ll be a good add. From my own personal standpoint, I was fortunate to have Bobby (Dickerson) as an infield coach and then the year I spent in Atlanta I had Wash (Ron Washington). From an infield standpoint, he preaches a lot of the same things that both Wash and Bobby preach and he coaches hard. And I say that in the most respectful way.
The year I was in Triple-A and having a friendship with him, he’d still be getting on me about my secondary leads at third, and I think he pushed me extremely hard even when we had that relationship. And he’s worked in the Cleveland organization that I think is just extremely well run from the top all the way to the bottom.
From a data standpoint, coaching standpoint, I think they do a really good job of blending all the aspects. And he grew up in the game.
Third base coach has been a semi-controversial spot for a few years. Many fans think that the aforementioned Dickerson, for example, was too happy in sending guys. But you can go too far the other way also. The fact that a former Oriole (that’s a fan favorite) gave such a rousing endorsement should speak volumes. Time will tell once the Birds get to spring training and into game action.
Birdland Crush 