The Orioles have shown their capabilities at the plate in flashes. Putting together consistent production was a struggle in 2025, however, and one of the largest tasks ahead of a new coaching staff in Baltimore will be reinvigorating a lineup that seemed, at times last season, sapped of life.

During Craig Albernaz’s introductory press conference as the new Orioles manager, he offered the first glimpse of how he envisions righting the ship. He spoke of fundamentals, of the importance of sound defense, and those fundamentals extend to his hitting philosophy.

“We’re going to play a very exciting brand of baseball,” Albernaz said, alluding to a style that will include putting the ball in play, stolen base attempts and big innings. At least, that’s the vision in early November.

Enacting that will be the next test, and it will not be an easy one, given some of the shortcomings from last season. But Albernaz, who spurned interest from other teams yet jumped at the chance to take over at Camden Yards, views this group of hitters — and whatever reinforcements are added this winter — as capable of not only reaching the postseason, but of making noise while there.

“The talent just jumps right out at you,” Albernaz said. “They can perform better in their eyes. So, it’s great to see the work that they’ll put in in the offseason. We’ll come out and next year really take on that challenge.”

The challenge will be creating more positive outcomes when in the batter’s box, even if its an out. There is a statistic for almost everything in baseball, so naturally there are ways to measure whether a lineup is making the most of their opportunities with runners on base.

The easiest, of course, is to look at a team’s batting average with runners in scoring position. The Orioles finished 2025 with a .234 average in those situations, which ranked 27th in baseball. They struck out 25% of the time in those situations, which ranked third-highest.

From another angle, though, is the all-encompassing idea of a productive out. It is measured by accounting for successful sacrifice attempts with one out, the advancement of a runner with no outs and scoring a runner as the second out of an inning. In this sense, Baltimore did not fare well, either.

The Orioles finished the season with 135 productive outs and a 25.8% success rate, according to Baseball Reference. The latter mark ranked 24th out of 30 clubs.

Taking all of that into account will be part of Albernaz’s study of an underperforming offense. At the helm, Albernaz will assemble a hitting staff that molds the Orioles’ mentality with his own. Baltimore’s current crop of hitting coaches — Cody Asche, Sherman Johnson and Tommy Joseph — are all departing, which allows for a fresh take on the offense.

Albernaz appears to care about productive outs. He spoke of an offensive philosophy built around passing the baton, even when certain players are slumping. Of course, he joked, “I think anyone would want any of their teams to go out and hit 10 home runs a night. You can sign me up for that.”

But what Albernaz would really like is a “diverse offense.”

“It’s a hard game,” Albernaz said at his introductory press conference Tuesday. “So for us, we have to be a diverse offense. We have to do the little things right. When guys are struggling or going through a little rut, you have to find a way to keep the line moving and be productive for your team and for the organization. That’s something we’re going to preach, about just being a more diverse offense, and so we’re going to have a number of ways to beat you.”

That’s not a novel concept. Most teams aspire to it. The Orioles of years past have emphasized critical aspects of that approach, with plate discipline and selective swings as pillars of their identity.

And in August 2024, Asche offered similar talking points to Albernaz.

“We’d want to walk more and chase less,” Asche said then. “That’s the pipe dream of every front office that builds a lineup. That’s the pipe dream of every manager and hitting coach. Sometimes, it just doesn’t work out that way. I think we’re really just focused on grinding out at-bats. We talk a lot about setting our teammate up for success, and what does that look like? Sometimes, it’s a walk. Sometimes, a nine-pitch at-bat that might result in a strikeout. Sometimes it’s beating a first baseman to the bag and setting up a pinch hitter.

“Of course we want to see more walks. Other teams would probably like to see us hit less homers too. That’s just the way it goes. But yeah, I would love to lead the league in homers. I’d love to lead the league in batting average and walks and slug, and we’d have the lowest chase and the highest meatball swing, but you’ve got to factor in your lineup and help guys do what they do best all the time without solely focusing on weaknesses, because if you tell a guy what he’s bad at enough, eventually he just believes that’s who he is, instead of showing them what they’re good at and making sure they’re really good at that.”

So whatever is said to the players this winter and next season by a new hitting department won’t be entirely new. The messengers will be, and in that Albernaz has his work cut out. Can he (and the hitting staff around him) find success in their messaging and teaching?

That won’t be answered for months. For now, the tea leaves show a willingness to acknowledge the shortcomings of players, at least. Albernaz said he doesn’t shy away from tough conversations, and while he wants to emphasize the positives a player brings to the table, there is no progress without frankness.

“I think the best coaches, the best managers in this game, they adapt to the players around them,” Albernaz said. “They don’t have one set way of doing things. That’s where I see this. Myself and the coaching staff are going to really home in on our players’ strengths. Yes, we’re going to really develop their weaknesses, but we just want to bring out our players’ strengths and let them shine.”

That answer came in response to a question wondering how much of the Guardians’ approach Albernaz would bring with him to Baltimore. He was the associate manager under Stephen Vogt in Cleveland before this.

Historically, Cleveland is thought of as a put-the-ball-in-play, grind-it-out offense. The Guardians finished 2025 with a .226 batting average and .669 on-base-plus-slugging percentage, both ranked 29th. But a slightly above-average productive out success rate (28.5%) helped do just enough to support their elite pitching and strong defense en route to a postseason berth.

The overall offensive philosophy Albernaz delivered Tuesday sounds prudent. It could be a breath of fresh air for a fan base that grew tired of watching flyouts and groundouts and the second-fewest line drives in the game (18.5%). But until it plays out, it will be impossible to know how a philosophy unfolds into action.