In Brandon Hyde’s first public comments since he was fired as Orioles manager in May, the 51-year-old lamented what he called a “terrible start” and referenced “a lot of reasons behind it” without delving into any of them in depth.

Hyde, who has not returned messages from The Baltimore Banner, appeared as a guest on MLB Network on Thursday. During the segment, Hyde said he has reassessed what went wrong. A major cause, he said, was the series of injuries that struck late in 2024 and continued into 2025.

“We just had a tough time winning games,” Hyde said. “We had three really good years. You go back where we exceeded a ton of expectations in ’22 and ’23, and in ’24, we were the first team to 70 wins last year, and then we had a ton of injuries late in the year and we got bounced out of the postseason, scoring one run against the Royals in two games. That was disappointing. And then just had a tough start to the year this year, and they felt like they had to make a change.”

The change was made prior to the May 17 game against the Washington Nationals, when Baltimore was 15-28. The Orioles lost the first four games under interim manager Tony Mansolino, although the performances steadied as the season went on before this latest stretch that has featured six losses in seven games ahead of Thursday’s series finale against the Boston Red Sox.

Part of the hellish start to the season falls at the feet of a rotation that performed poorly. At the end of May, the starters’ ERA was 5.38, which ranked fourth worst in the majors.

“We had a tough time rotation-wise, and it kind of started with Grayson [Rodriguez] getting hurt in spring training,” Hyde said. Rodriguez has since undergone elbow debridement surgery, which ended his campaign without a pitch thrown in the majors.

“That was somebody we were relying on to really take the next step,” Hyde said. “He’s got top-of-the-rotation stuff, and I thought he was going to take that next step this year. Unfortunately, he got hurt, so rotation-wise we had a tough time staying in the game, the first 40-something games I was there. We had some underperformance on offense too, we had some injuries, but everybody has injuries, so that’s not an excuse. But we just didn’t play very good baseball the first month of the season.”

When asked specifically about catcher Adley Rutschman and second baseman Jackson Holliday, Hyde maintained that both have bright futures. Holliday, he said, faced additional difficulties due to a position change from shortstop. Hyde called it “probably unfair bringing him to the big leagues the time that they did.”

Holliday’s first stint in the majors last season wasn’t successful; he was optioned after 10 games. He returned July 31, 2024, and hit .218 during the second half. This season, Holliday hasn’t played a strong defensive second base and his offense hasn’t flourished. He entered Thursday with a .240 batting average and .677 on-base-plus-slugging percentage.

“I think Jackson’s going to be a great player in this game,” Hyde said. “As a team that’s trying to win every single night, and every night’s the Super Bowl, people can get on the wagon and off the wagon with certain players. And sometimes it just takes a little more time.”

Hyde also credited Rutschman for being an immediate difference maker in 2022. But, when asked why Rutschman’s offensive numbers have regressed (he is on the injured list for the second time this season, but he’s hitting .227), Hyde emphasized the positives.

“I know that he carries a heavy load, and he puts a lot of pressure on himself, and he’s a great, great person,” Hyde said. “He cares a ton. I think he is going to be that leader type we all envisioned him being, because his makeup is off the charts and he’s got the ability, hits from both sides, can command a game behind the plate, has won a lot of games in his career already. And I think he’s going to be that [a star]. Maybe just a little bit of a tough year for him.”