New MLB managers in 2026

Nine teams had managerial vacancies this offseason. All nine of those jobs are now filled.

The Rockies became the last of the nine clubs to hire a new manager on Monday, making Warren Schaeffer their full-time skipper after he served as Colorado’s interim manager for part of 2025.

Six of the nine new hires are first-time managers in MLB, including Schaeffer. That group of first-timers also includes the youngest skipper since the 1970s, as well as the first college coach to move directly to managing in the big leagues without previous professional coaching experience.

Here’s a breakdown of the nine new managers, along with the biggest challenge each of them will be facing in 2026 and beyond. (Managers are listed in the order that they were hired.)

What happened: The Rangers hired Bochy out of retirement after the 2022 season, and the move quickly paid off when he led Texas to victory in the ’23 World Series. But the two seasons since have ended with the Rangers outside the AL postseason field looking in. After the Rangers went 81-81 in 2025, missing an AL Wild Card spot by six games, the club and Bochy agreed to end the veteran skipper’s managerial tenure.

The Rangers didn’t have to look far to find Bochy’s replacement. They moved quickly to hire Schumaker, who joined the Rangers’ front office as a senior adviser to president of baseball operations Chris Young last November. Schumaker previously spent two years as the Marlins’ skipper and won National League Manager of the Year honors in 2023.

Biggest challenge: Texas†lineup was a juggernaut during its 2023 championship season, but the club ranks 21st in runs scored and 27th in OPS since the beginning of ’24. With the departures of Marcus Semien (traded), Adolis García (non-tendered) and Jonah Heim (non-tendered) in recent days, six of the Rangers†nine starting position players from that 2023 playoff run are gone.

After considering Albert Pujols and Torii Hunter for the job, the Angels opted to go with another one of their former players, handing the reins to Suzuki. The former catcher spent the last two seasons of his 16-year career with the Angels.

Biggest challenge: The Angels have MLB’s longest-active playoff drought at 11 seasons, and their highest-paid player, Mike Trout, isn’t getting any younger. The Halos also haven’t shown much patience with their managers lately. Suzuki is the fifth person to hold the job (not including interim managers) since Mike Scioscia’s lengthy tenure came to an end after the 2018 season, and the new skipper is signed for only one year.

What happened: Although the Giants picked up Melvinâ€s 2026 club option in July, they announced on Sept. 29 that they were dismissing him after two seasons at the helm, both of which ended without a playoff appearance. That gave president of baseball operations Buster Posey the opportunity to choose a manager for the first time since taking the job in 2024, and he made the unprecedented move to hire Vitello straight from the college ranks. The 47-year-old Vitello had been the head coach at the University of Tennessee since the 2018 season.

Biggest challenge: Vitello did a fantastic job turning the Volunteers into a national power in college baseball, but the NL West is a different animal than the SEC. The Dodgers have won 12 of the past 13 NL West titles and just captured their second straight World Series crown. The Padres have also made the postseason in three of the past four years, and the D-backs reached the World Series in 2023. So while San Francisco has done well to improve its roster with the recent additions of Rafael Devers, Matt Chapman, Willy Adames and Jung Hoo Lee, Vitello still has his work cut out for him leading a club that has finished above .500 only once since the beginning of 2017.

What happened: Amid a 15-28 start to the 2025 season, the Orioles relieved Hyde of his duties after he managed the team for parts of seven seasons, overseeing a drastic rebuild that led to playoff appearances in 2023 and ’24. Mansolino — who had been the team’s third-base coach since 2021 — guided Baltimore to a 60-59 record the rest of the season as the interim skipper. However, the Orioles opted to move on from Mansolino in favor of Albernaz, who had been Cleveland’s associate manager.

Biggest challenge: Albernaz is inheriting a talented roster that could get even better if president of baseball operations Mike Elias addresses the club’s pitching issues this offseason. But there are lingering questions involving some of the club’s core pieces, including catcher Adley Rutschman and second baseman Jackson Holliday — the No. 1 overall Draft picks in 2019 and ’22. After a strong start to his career, Rutschman has sharply regressed over the past two years. Holliday, meanwhile, has yet to live up to expectations.

What happened: A season that began with playoff hopes gave way to a 70-win campaign — the franchise’s fewest in a non-shortened season since 2016 — and a Trade Deadline sell-off. That led to the club dismissing Baldelli after seven seasons in charge.

The Twins went with a familiar face to replace Baldelli. Shelton served as the Twins†bench coach under Paul Molitor in 2018 and Baldelli in â€19 before landing his first big league managerial job with the Pirates. Shelton led Pittsburgh from 2020 until early in this past season, when he was let go after the Bucs started the season 12-26. He had a 306-440 record with the Pirates.

Biggest challenge: The Twins shipped off a good deal of talent before the Trade Deadline and could do more selling this winter, with starters Pablo López and Joe Ryan among those who could be dealt. Byron Buxton isn’t guaranteed to stay, either. The center fielder, who has a full no-trade clause, was adamant over the summer about his desire to remain with the Twins for the rest of his career, but the word is that he could reconsider his stance if the club’s teardown continues.

What happened: With the Nationals in the midst of their sixth straight losing season following their World Series title in 2019, the club parted ways with Martinez, as well as former general manager and president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo, on July 6. Cairo led the Nats to a 29-43 record as the interim skipper.

Washington hired Paul Toboni to be its new president of baseball operations on Oct. 1, and he soon got to work searching for the team’s next manager. Toboni, 35, picked Butera for the job. The 33-year-old most recently held the role of Tampa Bayâ€s senior director of player development.

Biggest challenge: In addition to being the youngest manager in the Major Leagues since Frank Quilici managed the Twins in 1972, Butera will be tasked with leading a roster that has some promising up-and-comers but also a lot of holes. James Wood, CJ Abrams and MacKenzie Gore were Washington’s only players with more than 1.4 WAR (per FanGraphs) in 2025, and Gore is a candidate to be traded for future assets this offseason.

What happened: Snitker informed the Braves after the 2025 season that he would not pursue a new contract to extend his managerial career into ’26. During Snitkerâ€s managerial tenure, the club made seven straight playoff appearances from 2018-24 — including six consecutive division titles — and won a World Series championship in â€21. Atlanta took a step back in 2025, however, finishing 76-86.

The Braves went with an in-house hire for the job: Weiss, who previously managed the Rockies from 2013-16 before spending eight years as Snitker’s bench coach.

Biggest challenge: Weiss is just the fourth person to fill the managerial role for the Braves since Bobby Cox transitioned from general manager to manager during the 1990 season, and he has big shoes to fill as the replacement for Snitker, who had considerable success as Atlanta’s manager and is a beloved figure within the organization. Weiss does have the benefit of inheriting a team that won 104 games in 2023 with many of the same players in place, but it’s also a club that has dealt with a myriad of injury problems over the past two seasons.

What happened: The Padres announced on Oct. 13 that Shildt was retiring from his position as the teamâ€s manager. The Padres went 183-141 in his two years at the helm in San Diego, making the postseason in both seasons, but they lost to the Dodgers in the 2024 NLDS and the Cubs in the â€25 NL Wild Card Series. He still had two years left on the contract extension he signed in November 2024.

After the Padres had narrowed their list of candidates to a small group that included pitching coach Ruben Niebla, longtime catcher Nick Hundley and Pujols, they made the surprising decision to hire Stammen, a former MLB reliever who is entering his 10th season in the organization. Stammen spent the last six seasons of his career with the Friars from 2017-22. He retired during the 2023 season, when it became evident he would not return from a torn capsule in his right shoulder, but was promptly hired as an assistant on the Padres’ big league coaching staff and in the baseball operations department.

Biggest challenge: As we noted with Vitello, managing in the NL West is no picnic thanks to the Dodgers. Granted, the Padres have reached the postseason as a Wild Card team in three of the past four years anyway, but Stammen is taking over a club that will be relying heavily on three players going into their age-33 seasons — Manny Machado, Xander Bogaerts and Nick Pivetta — and has a lot of rotation questions to answer.

Rockies: Warren Schaeffer

What happened: After starting the year 7-33 — one of the worst 40-game starts in Major League history — the Rockies opted to move on from Black, a veteran skipper in his ninth season as the team’s manager. Schaeffer, previously the team’s third-base coach, assumed the role as the interim manager and led Colorado to a 36-86 record across its final 122 games.

Biggest challenge: Building a sustainable winner in Colorado has proven to be a difficult endeavor throughout the franchise’s existence. The Rockies have made just five postseason appearances in 33 seasons, all as a Wild Card team, and own the third-worst winning percentage (.456) in baseball since their inaugural campaign in 1993. Things have gotten particularly dour lately, with Colorado enduring seven straight losing seasons since its last playoff berth in 2018, including a franchise-record 119 losses in ’25.

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