Tides Coaching Staff Announced for 2023 Season

The Norfolk Tides and Baltimore Orioles today announced Norfolk’s field staff for the 2023 season. Manager Buck Britton and Pitching Coach Justin Ramsey will return for their second seasons with the Tides, with Ramsey also being promoted organizationally to Upper-Level Pitching Coordinator. Hitting Coach Brink Ambler is entering his first full season with the club. Ambler joined the Tides in September last season when his season with Single-A Delmarva finished. Ramón Sambo is returning to the Tides staff as the Fundamentals Coach, Alan Rail returns as the Athletic Trainer, Griffin Pyott is introduced as Assistant Athletic Trainer, Jon Medici will return as the club’s Strength and Conditioning Coach and Joshua Rodrigues enters his second season as a Development Coach.

BUCK BRITTON is entering his second year managing in Norfolk and his 14^th season in the Orioles organization overall. In 2008, he was drafted by the Orioles in the 35^th round out of Lubbock Christian University. Britton would go on to play seven seasons in Baltimore’s organization, including four different seasons with the Norfolk Tides: 2010, 2012 – 2014. He played for the Los Angeles Dodgers organization in 2015 and the Minnesota Twins organization in 2016 before retiring as a player. In 2017, Britton came back to the Orioles organization as a hitting coach for the Single-A Delmarva Shorebirds. He was elevated to manager for Delmarva in the 2018 season and then became manager of the Bowie Baysox in 2019. During the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, he coached at the Orioles Alternate Training Site but returned as manager for Bowie in 2021. Totaling his four seasons as a manager, Britton has 291 wins and 253 losses. Bowie reached their league championship series in both seasons Britton managed, totaling a 5-7 career playoff record. He won the Eastern League Manager of the Year Award in 2019. In his first season as manager in Norfolk, the Tides went 74-76.

Britton was born in Panorama City, California and graduated from Weatherford High School (Texas). He played JUCO baseball at Lon Morris College and then played Division I baseball at Steven F. Austin University and Lubbock Christian University prior to getting drafted by the Orioles. His brother, Zack, has 139 saves with Baltimore, ranking second in franchise history.

JUSTIN RAMSEY is entering his second season as Norfolk’s Pitching Coach and his fourth in the Orioles organization. The 2023 season will be his third as a coach in professional baseball, where he was the pitching coach for Delmarva in 2019 and an Orioles Alternate Site coach in 2020. In 2022, Norfolk broke the franchise record in strikeouts (1,380) and strikeouts per 9.0 innings (9.61) under Ramsey’s guidance. A 2004 All-American hurler at Oral Roberts University, Ramsey began his coaching career as an assistant coach at Sacramento City College for five seasons from 2007 to 2011, spent three seasons as Pitching Coach at Long Beach State from 2012 to 2014, and then as pitching coach for Nova Southeastern University from 2015 to 2018 before joining the Orioles organization.

BRINK AMBLER is entering his first season as Norfolk’s Hitting Coach and his third in the Orioles organization. He served as the hitting coach for Delmarva in 2022. Prior to coaching professionally, Ambler was a Tech Coordinator in 2021 for Delmarva. Before joining the Orioles organization, Ambler earned his first coaching job as an Assistant Baseball Coach for Division III Otterbein University for the 2017 and 2018 seasons. He then served as an Assistant Baseball Coach for the College of William & Mary during the 2019 and 2020 seasons, which is under an hour away from Harbor Park in Williamsburg. It’s also his hometown college, where he went to Jamestown High School and was named an All-Bay Rivers District outfielder and two-time Team Captain. He continued his playing career as a preferred walk-on for the Alabama Crimson Tide baseball team from 2012-13 where he was teammates with future Major Leaguer Spencer Turnbull. After graduation, Ambler served as a Baseball Instructor at Bo Jackson’s Elite Sports prior to becoming a collegiate assistant coach.

RAMÓN SAMBO is entering his fourth season in Norfolk and his 17^th season in the Orioles organization. He was chosen as a coach for the 2019 Triple-A All-Star Game, and he’s registered 283 career wins as a manager in the Baltimore and Pittsburgh minor league systems. Sambo began his coaching career in 1997 after a 10-year minor league playing career that included stints in the Phillies, Reds, Brewers, White Sox and Angels organizations.

JOSHUA RODRIGUES is entering his second season as Development Coach for the Tides. Prior to joining the Orioles organization, Rodrigues worked in baseball operations for the Tampa Bay Rays organization in 2019.

ALAN RAIL is entering his second season as the Athletic Trainer for the Tides after serving the same role in 2019 for the Miami Marlins organization at Double-A Jacksonville. Before the Jumbo Shrimp, he worked in the Minnesota Twins organization for 15 years. Rail received his bachelor’s degree in Athletic Training from Weber State University and his master’s degree at Montana State University – Bozeman.

GRIFFIN PYOTT is entering his first season as the Assistant Athletic Trainer for Norfolk and his second season in the Orioles organization. Prior to joining the Tides, Pyott was an athletic trainer for Delmarva in 2022. Before professional baseball, he earned his BS of Athletic Training from Marywood University then earned his Masters at Southern Illinois University – Edwardsville.

JON MEDICI is entering his second season with the Tides and his fifth in the Orioles organization. Prior to joining Norfolk, he spent the previous three years with Bowie. Prior to working with Baltimore, he worked as a Minor League Strength and Conditioning Coach for the San Francisco Giants from 2017 to 2019. He started working in affiliated baseball in 2016 as a Minor League Physical Performance Coach for the Colorado Rockies.