Baltimore Orioles: Who is Mike Elias?
By Bill Felber
The man named the Baltimore Orioles next general manager Friday is credited with building the Houston Astros farm system
Mike Elias, who on Friday was named general manager of the Baltimore Orioles, is widely credited with having been the force behind the draft successes that helped build the Houston Astros into World Series champions.
Elias’ appointment, which has been widely since Tuesday, was confirmed by the Orioles in a press release Friday afternoon.
He is a 35-year-old Yale graduate who became the Astros’ director of scouting when Jeff Luhnow was named general manager following the 2011 season. In that capacity he supervised a succession of Astros drafts that produced such stars as Carlos Correa and Alex Bregman. He has been assistant general manager since 2016.
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Elias succeeds Dan Duquette, who was relieved of his duties in October following a seven-season tenure.
The hiring of Elias marks a change of course for the Orioles, who under the Angelos family have relied on an old-school, scouting-based system at a time when many teams have gravitated toward an analytics approach to player development and strategy.
In Houston, Elias was recognized as a leading proponent of the new-school analytics approach. But he has also emphasized scouting. His team biography asserts that under Elias, the Astros drafted more major league players than any other team.
At Yale, he was a left-handed pitcher. Following graduation, he worked for the St. Louis Cardinals, and became manager of that team’s amateur scouting office in 2010.
In their announcement, the Orioles confirmed that Elias would be naming a second-in-command. That person has been widely rumored to be Sig Mejdal, until recently an executive with the Astros.
Next. Orioles top ten prospects. dark
Two franchises are still seeking a free agent. The San Francisco Giants recently hired Dodger GM Farhan Zaidi to be their president of baseball operations, and Zaidi indicated he was undertaking a search to identify a successor to GM Bobby Evans, who was relieved of his duties in September. There has been no indication when the Dodgers will replace Zaidi.