It has been nearly 22 years since Craig Albernaz played in the Valley Baseball League. But the first-year manager of the Baltimore Orioles still recalls his host family that summer of 2004 while with the Woodstock River Bandits.
“My host family was great – Ken and Judy Rinker,” Albernaz told AFP, sitting in the Orioles’ third-base dugout at Nationals Park in Washington in late March in the last exhibition game of 2026. “I loved my time there.”
Mike Bocock, a baseball standout for Turner Ashby in the 1970s, managed several teams in the Valley League, including Woodstock after Albernaz was there. Bocock noted that Ken Rinker passed away in 2020. A former coach at Harrisonburg, Stonewall Jackson and Central, Rinker graduated from JMU in 1978.
“Ken Rinker was a friend of mine and a colleague of mine,” said Bocock, a member of the Valley League Hall of Fame who guided the River Bandits from 2018 through last season. “He was an athletic director at Central and was very involved in the community. He was just a great person.”
Albernaz, 43, who has not lost his New England accent, said the Valley League helped prepare him for life as a player in the minors.
“I loved that league. The travel was awesome. The competition was better than expected. I loved the area, a very small-town feel,” he said. “That was the first time for me as a player playing every day. You are going out there, and you really don’t know anyone. It was a great experience.”
Albernaz was born in Fall River, Mass., played in college at Eckerd in Florida and was a catcher in Woodstock.
“I do remember him,” said Bocock, who guided Luray in 2004. “He had a (great) arm.”
The Baltimore skipper even recalls his manager that summer in Woodstock: Rick Ware, who was guiding the Saint Leo program at the time.
According to baseballreference.com, Ware was part of a national title team as a player with Hillsborough Community College in 1988. He then played at the University of South Florida and was the MVP of the 1990 tournament in the Sun Belt Conference – of which JMU is now a member.
“Ware returned to Hillsborough as assistant coach from 1991-1993, then guided Tampa Catholic High to a 32-20 record in 1994-1995. Ware then served as a scout with the New York Yankees and a coach in the Gulf Coast League. He was an assistant at Saint Leo for one year and head coach there from 2003-2008, going 154-154,” noted baseballreference.com.
After playing in the minors with Tampa Bay from 2006-2013 – as did first-year Washington Nationals manager Blake Butera, who is a friend – Albernaz played one season in the minors with the Detroit Tigers before beginning his coaching career in 2015 down on the farm with Tampa Bay. He was named the Orioles manager before this season after serving as the bench coach and associate manager for Cleveland.
Albernaz is not the first Orioles manager to play in the Valley League.
Former Virginia Tech star Johnny Oates appeared for Waynesboro, as did Sam Perlozzo, who also played for New Market. Both are in the Valley League Hall of Fame. Bocock and Oates were part of the first Valley League Hall of Fame class in 2016.
Oates, who grew up in Prince George County and starred at Virginia Tech, had a long career as a catcher in the Majors. He played for the Generals in 1966 and 1967 and was the Baltimore skipper from 1991-1994. A hitting coach for Oates in Baltimore was the late Greg Biagini, the father of current JMU third-base coach Tanner Biagini.
Perlozzo, who starred at George Washington, was the Baltimore manager from 2005-2007. Perlozzo, a former Major League infielder, was teammates in college with former Turner Ashby ace pitcher Jodie Wampler.
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David Driver
