Astros Lose Assistant GM to Orioles as Their Newest GM
The Houston Astros have had two very successful seasons the last two years but are losing a piece of that front office that helped put a winning team on the field.
Assistant General Manager Mike Elias is taking a promotion to become the newest General Manager of the Baltimore Orioles.
Elias began his career in Major League Baseball with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2007 as an area scout and was named the Astros' director of amateur scouting in 2011 when Jeff Luhnow became the GM. His role would expand in 2016 to overseeing player development and Minor League operations.
Mike Elias is just 35 years old and a graduate from Yale University, he's highly regarded among the baseball world and is known to have been an advocate in the team drafting Carlos Correa in 2012.
There are also rumors that another former Astros front office employee could be joining Elias in Baltimore as they desperately try to rebuild their franchise. Sig Mejdal, the former NASA engineer who recently resigned from the Astros organization after six years as the team's top analytics specialist.
Elias was one candidate among a group that included men with plenty of front-office experience in Ben Cherington, Ned Colletti, and Ned Rice. Others that were considered were Major League Baseball officials, Peter Woodfork, and Tyrone Brooks. However, the team decided to go with the youth and exuberance of Mike Elias, best of luck to the former Astros Assistant GM who helped bring Houston so much recent success.