The Orioles are bringing former Padres manager Mike Shildt aboard in a minor league player development role, a source confirmed. Shildt, who recently departed San Diego after two seasons with 90 wins or more, will be Baltimore’s minor league upper level coordinator of instruction.

The Orioles are also promoting Samuel Vega from Latin American field coordinator to lower level minor league coordinator of instruction. Vega has been with the Orioles since 2021. Both hirings were first reported by MASN.

Shildt, who also managed the St. Louis Cardinals from 2018-21, retired from his role in San Diego following a second consecutive playoff exit. He told The Athletic last month that the decision was his own. He said he was “worn down” by the job.

“I don’t want people to think I checked out or wasn’t engaged or wasn’t doing my job,” Shildt told The Athletic. “No, that’s not the case. I tell myself, and I have done it since day one of this job, regardless of level … I’m going bell to bell. I’m going to give it everything I got. Because I owe it to the team and the players. So I did that.

“But I can tell you I was sick a lot. I just wasn’t feeling good. I was run-down. And I wasn’t sleeping. And it’s nobody’s fault. It’s just day-to-day stress. But, you know, just unhealthy, man, and sometimes you’ve just got to take care of you, you know?”

Shildt is stepping back into a minor league player development role, only a month after announcing his retirement. He said last month to The Athletic that he wouldn’t pursue another major league job, and he stuck to that by accepting a minor league position.

“Never say never,” Shildt told The Athletic. “But I have no desire to be in that big chair anytime soon. I’m going to enjoy a quality of life that I haven’t been enjoying my entire life.”

Shildt has a connection to the Orioles. He was in the crowd at Camden Yards when Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. reached 2,131 consecutive games played. His mother worked for the Orioles’ Double-A affiliate, which was then in Charlotte, North Carolina. And Shildt’s father even proposed to his mother at an Orioles game in Memorial Stadium.

Shildt told MLB.com in 2020 that he shined Ripken’s cleats as a 12-year-old, when Ripken was a 19-year-old prospect.

“I grew up in [the Orioles’] organization for eight years,” Shildt said. “You’re seeing the guys come through and go to the big leagues, but you’re also seeing how the roving instructors work, the managers, the coaches, and you just see the attention to details and the fundamentals. It was very emphasized. They just had continuity.”

That was the time of the “Oriole Way,” and Shildt built his own career around it.

Vega earned the Cal Ripken Sr. Player Development Award in 2024 for his work with Latin American prospects. He played a large role in working with the organization on its new Dominican Republic player development center.

The Orioles have expanded their footprint by pushing resources into their Latin American infrastructure and scouting. Their first major success story is the breakout of catcher Samuel Basallo, who signed an eight-year contract extension shortly after his debut late in the 2025 season. There are others on the way, including right-handers Esteban Mejia and Keeler Morfe. Both teenage pitchers boast high velocity.

The addition of Shildt is as surprising as his unexpected retirement last month. He departed San Diego after guiding the Padres to the postseason two years in a row. But, in an interview with the San Diego Union-Tribune last month, Shildt hinted at the move.

He told the Union-Tribune he hoped to return to the game in a player development role in the future. The future, it turns out, was in the near term.

Shildt has been in player development roles before. He spent ample time as a minor league coach in the Cardinals organization and, ahead of the 2024 season, he told The Athletic his history in the minors could help players make the jump to the majors.

“Having been in player development for as long as I was, it allowed me the opportunity to think about how to help players make the transition and figure out what it looks like,” he said, “because it is a transition, but also not make it bigger than it is.”

The Orioles could use help in that area, because many of their prospects haven’t gotten off to roaring starts in the majors. That isn’t unique to Baltimore; president of baseball operations Mike Elias often says there is no harder transition than the one from Triple-A to the big leagues.

Baltimore is betting Shildt can be a valuable resource on that path.