The Orioles are addressing a lack of coaching experience on their major league staff by bringing in John Mabry as a senior adviser to interim manager Tony Mansolino, the club announced Friday.

All the coaches on staff will remain in their current roles through the end of the season.

Mabry, who graduated from high school in Chesapeake City, is a longtime major league player and coach. He played parts of 14 seasons in the majors, including three stints with the St. Louis Cardinals, the club that selected him in the sixth round of the 1991 draft.

After his playing days, Mabry, 54, joined the Cardinals’ coaching staff as an assistant hitting coach in 2012, and he quickly rose to become the lead hitting coach. He spent six years there before he was fired ahead of the 2018 All-Star break. From there, Mabry worked with the Kansas City Royals for three seasons before becoming the Miami Marlins’ assistant hitting coach for two seasons, working under manager Skip Schumaker.

Mabry also overlapped with Schumaker as a player briefly during the 2005 season. Along with Ryan Flaherty, the former Orioles player and current Chicago Cubs bench coach, Schumaker could be a managerial candidate for the Orioles after the firing of Brandon Hyde.

Mabry, along with the rest of the coaching staff, was fired by Miami after the 2024 season.

The position opened for Mabry after Hyde and major league field coordinator Tim Cossins were fired during a disappointing start to the season. According to The Athletic, which first reported that Mabry was discussing a position with the Orioles, Mabry will essentially replace Cossins. Cossins, however, also served as the bullpen coach and catching instructor.

Instead, Mabry is a hitting-focused coach. His perspective could be useful. The Orioles retain three hitting instructors: Cody Asche, Tommy Joseph and Sherman Johnson, but the team is underproducing, particularly with runners in scoring position.

Mansolino said Mabry will assist in a variety of facets. “He’s going to be a great resource for us in all areas,” Mansolino said. “I think directly he’s going to assist me, but I also envision him assisting in all areas.”

Mansolino said the organization has been in touch with Mabry in the past. The entire coaching staff agreed to the addition.

“If you kind of think about the situation we’re in, we’re down a couple bodies, coaching staff-wise,” Mansolino said. “We need labor. He’s out there. He’s not attached to a team right now. He’s somebody we really like and have a tremendous amount of respect for.”

The hitting coaches are relatively new to the majors, as are many members of Baltimore’s staff. Pitching coach Drew French is in his second season in that role. Bench coach Robinson Chirinos is in his first year and, while interim third-base coach Buck Britton is a longtime minor league manager, this is his first major league stint.

“It’s a young staff. That’s something that I’m aware of,” general manager Mike Elias said May 20. “There’s a relative inexperience. It’s a very talented group. A lot of major league playing experience in the group and a lot of good baseball intellect in the group, so I’m working with these guys every day, trying to figure out and troubleshoot what we can do to get these guys playing better.”

Added Mansolino, a day after he was elevated to interim manager, when asked about the overall inexperience of the staff: “That’s a story. You can go that route, without a doubt. We have really good coaches, whether they have experience or not. Do we lack some experience in the major leagues? I guess. Possibly. I would imagine, if you go around to other staffs in the big leagues, you would find similar types of experience on those staffs. So our guys are good. They’re prepared. They’re united.”

Mabry will bring more experience, both as a player and a coach.

Mabry has a strong relationship with Ryan O’Hearn, whom he coached while in Kansas City. Even after Mabry and O’Hearn left the Royals, they stayed in touch about hitting technique. O’Hearn credits Mabry as one of the major inspirations that helped his career turn around.

“He was questioning if there was more in the tank, or what he had to do differently to get to where he wanted to be and get to his best self,” Mabry told The Banner last year. “Just him being hungry, available, teachable was a great way to get started.”

This article has been updated.