Report: Brocail, Flores will not return in '21

Changes are coming to the Orioles' coaching staff. The club will not be retaining pitching coach Doug Brocail or third base coach Jose Flores for the 2021 season, according to multiple reports.

The team has not confirmed the changes, which were first reported by MASN, citing sources.

A former 15-year MLB veteran, Brocail, 53, was hired before the 2019 season after stints with the Astros ('11-13) and Rangers ('16-18). He oversaw the worst staff in MLB in '19 but helped that group improve into a league-average unit in '20 behind the arrival of several touted pitching prospects. The O's pitchers owned a combined 4.85 ERA during his tenure.

The candidates to replace Brocail are unclear at the moment, though director of pitching Chris Holt seems the most likely in-house possibility. Holt was promoted and given broad responsibilities after last season; the 41-year-old is arguably the organization’s most influential pitching voice on the developmental side of things.

Flores arrived in Baltimore from the Phillies shortly after manager Brandon Hyde’s hiring in 2018, having spent one year on Philadelphia’s staff. Hyde and Flores have ties from their days as Minor League coordinators in the Cubs' system; Flores was in charge of the Orioles’ infield instruction as well as a third-base coach.

The O's were MLB’s third-most aggressive shifters in 2019 but were only an average shifting team last season, per Statcast metrics. Both seasons, they were the American League’s worst defensive infield by the Statcast metric outs above average.