Baltimore Orioles Get Analytical by Naming Sig Mejdal Assistant GM
By Manny Gómez
On Wednesday, the Baltimore Orioles announced that they had signed Sig Mejdal to be Assistant GM for Analytics. The move is an indicator of Jeff Luhnow’s influence continuing to spread across MLB.
With the most recent addition of Sig Mejdal, the Baltimore Orioles are looking to fully embrace analytics. Just like that, the Baltimore Orioles have officially joined 21st century Major League Baseball. Executive Vice President and GM – and former Astros alum – Mike Elias welcomed Mejdal to Baltimore on Wednesday, calling it “a major moment for this franchise.”
Sig Mejdal has been named Orioles Assistant General Manager, Analytics. Mejdal will oversee all aspects of the club’s growing analytics efforts while assisting and advising EVP & General Manager Mike Elias in all manner of Baseball Operations decisions. pic.twitter.com/bKmv6s1A26
— Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) November 21, 2018
The 52-year-old former NASA biomathematician joined the baseball universe under Jeff Luhnow in St. Louis during Luhnow’s tenure with the Cardinals organization. Mejdal followed Luhnow to Houston where he helped created one of baseball’s premier analytics departments.
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Mejdal’s area of expertise while with the Astros was “in building a team through the draft,” according to The Athletic. The Astros farm system is so good that despite winning a 101 games in 2017 and 103 games in 2018, they still rank as the 7th best farm system in MLB.
This move brings the Orioles, who let go of Dan Duquette after seven seasons, in line with most other MLB teams. Analytics isn’t new to Baltimore, according to Orioles beat writer Dan Connolly, but it hasn’t been fully embraced until now. In fact, Connolly reported via The Athletic that “the Orioles’ analysts might have had some great ideas, but not much was implemented.”
With Elias and Mejdal at the helm, that is surely about to change. Don’t look for the Orioles to be immediate contenders. The process of rebuilding a team from the ground through the scope of analytics, is a long and arduous process.
Take the Astros for example. Before becoming the best team in MLB, the Astros went through the roughest stretch in the organization’s history.
Mejdal and Elias were a part of that process.
Next. Orioles top ten prospects. dark
I would expect nothing less from the Baltimore Orioles. In a few years, they are sure to be serious contenders in the toughest division in MLB.