North Shore Nine

The Pittsburgh Pirates have hired Sarah Gelles as the new assistant general manager serving under Ben Cherington, according to Eno Sarris at The Athletic. She will join current assistant general managers Steve Sanders and Kevan Graves. Sarah Gelles had previously served as director of research and development for the Houston Astros. She started her baseball career as an intern with the Pirates back in 2009, so this is a bit of a homecoming for her.

Gelles was recently chosen as a name on the rise within the game in a poll by The Athletic of people working at all levels of baseball. She’s risen through the ranks in the Baltimore Orioles and Astros’ research and development departments and has been with the Astros since 2019, helping solidify their stature as one of the game’s best teams for player development and analytics.

As an AGM, she’ll continue to impact specific analytical research initiatives, but it may be the perfect role to highlight her abilities as a manager. Those we spoke to for the poll reported a strong sense of loyalty, and one colleague told us that she “cares a lot for the well-being of her people.”

The Pirates are trying to turn their young players and prospects into a winning team, and a blend of player development and analytics will be important to that endeavor. Gelles has proven her knowledge in both cases and may help bring different aspects of the organization together if her history is prescient.

By all appearances, this is a good hire by the Pirates. She brings with her a lot of experience in analytics and development which are areas that the team hasn’t seemed to be excelling at. Eno Sarris had recently placed her on his list of 12 potential future stars in baseball management and coaching. (Note: The above link to the hiring story and the below link to the Sarris article of 12 up-and-comers are to The Athletic which is behind a paywall. You can view the story about the hiring on the MLB website for free here.)

I know that front-office additions aren’t exactly the transactions that us Pirates fans are eagerly awaiting. We want to see free-agent signings and trades. Hopefully, we have plenty of that coming. This seems like a pretty good move, though. It’s one that you won’t see tangible results from immediately, but it could be an indicator that the team is taking necessary steps to improve their player development. A much-needed endeavor.