On Thursday afternoon, Eno Sarris of The Athletic published an article looking at 12 potential future stars in management and coaching. The first name in that article was Sarah Gelles, the Director of Research and Development for the Houston Astros.
Forty-four minutes after publishing that article, Sarris and fellow Athletic writer Britt Ghiroli broke the news that the Pittsburgh Pirates had hired Gelles to be their new Assistant General Manager. Gelles joins Kevan Graves and Steve Sanders in the Assistant GM roles, under General Manager Ben Cherington.
Gelles started her career in baseball with the Pirates in 2009 as an intern. She graduated from Amherst College, which is the same school that then-General Manager Neal Huntington and current-General Manager Ben Cherington came from. After a year, Gelles moved to an internship with MLB’s labor relations department, which is the department that sent the Pirates former President Frank Coonelly, who was the team president at the time.
From 2011-18, Gelles worked for the Baltimore Orioles. That included being the coordinator of baseball analytics from 2012-14, before being promoted to the Director of Baseball Analytics and Major League Contracts. It appears that she was the only person in the analytics department for the Orioles at the time. The Orioles increased their analytics department by four people in 2019, before Gelles was hired away to join the Houston Astros R&D department.
The Astros have a highly touted R&D department. Gelles became the director of the department after one year. This excerpt from “The MVP Machine” by Travis Sawchik and Ben Lindbergh looks in detail at the Astros process with player development, highlighting an instant change made for reliever Ryan Pressly in 2018. This was while Gelles was with the Orioles, but she eventually took over and ran the department that had this efficiency established.
The Pirates don’t have a strong R&D presence when it comes to implementing quick changes to their players. They’ve long had a system led by Dan Fox that produces data and information. The Pirates haven’t had the ability to implement their research generated by Fox’s department in the instant way the Astros did with Pressly. The downside to this was shown this year, when the Pirates let Robert Stephenson go to the Rays, who saw the same instant turnaround the Astros saw years ago with Pressly. The Pirates haven’t seen those types of results since losing Quantitative Analyst Mike Fitzgerald to the Diamondbacks in 2016.
Gelles has a decade of experience in an MLB front office. This experience includes single-handedly implementing a new focus on analytics in Baltimore, and taking over a well-regarded research and development system in Houston — which remained well-regarded and contributed to a successful run with the Astros over the last four seasons. Her experience in R&D with Houston, combined with her experience overseeing an introductory program in Baltimore, is a nice combination of experience to help the Pirates in the exact area they need help.
Right now, that’s finding quick solutions to maximize the impact of their young players while they’re in Pittsburgh.
PIRATES SIGN A CATCHER
The Pirates signed catcher Ali Sanchez to an MLB deal, giving them four catchers on the 40-man roster, if you include Henry Davis. The fact that Sanchez was added to a major league deal, and lacks options to go to the minors, suggests he’s going to have a good shot at a big league job. The catcher, entering his age-27 season, has a .275/.345/.402 line in 893 plate appearances in Triple-A.
Endy Rodriguez is the starter in Pittsburgh, and Jason Delay was his backup at the end of 2023. Delay hit for a .251/.319/.347 line in 167 at-bats, with strong defensive value. He’s got options remaining, which means the Pirates could start him in Triple-A in 2024, and likely would still need him in the majors throughout the year as a third or fourth catcher.
THEY ALSO CLAIMED A PITCHER
The Pirates claimed 23-year old right-hander Roddery Munoz from the Washington Nationals. Munoz pitched in Triple-A for most of the 2023 season, combining for a 5.86 ERA in 66 innings between two teams.
Munoz dealt with control issues, putting up a 6.3 BB/9 at the Triple-A level. He struck out a batter an inning, and dealt with home run issues when he moved to the rotation in the Nationals system, after being claimed from the Braves.
He throws a four-seam and two-seam fastball, with both sitting around 95 MPH and generating a 10-12% swinging strike range. His best pitch is his slider, grading as a plus pitch with elite upside. It’s the one he uses the most often. The slider generates an 18.8% swinging strike rate, sitting at a hard 90 MPH, and complementing his high ground ball sinker.
Munoz will likely spend the offseason as one of the final men on the 40-man roster, which now sits at 38.
THIS WEEK ON PIRATES PROSPECTS
The Pirates started the week with the loss of Johan Oviedo to Tommy John, the addition of minor league free agent Gilberto Celestino, and some first base rumors. I wrote about all three on Monday.
**MONDAY: Johan Oviedo, Gilberto Celestino, First Base
Robert Stephenson was one of my red flags for the Pirates this year, after he immediately turned things around with the Rays. Ryan Borucki was one of my green flags. I graded Thomas Hatch as “almost green”. He’s since been released to play in Japan, where I think his new offspeed-heavy approach will have a good chance at getting refined. I wrote about all three pitchers on Tuesday.
**TUESDAY: Red and Green Flags From the Pirates Pitching Development
What is this “nano-focus” that I keep writing about? I broke down the effort needed for a third baseman on both sides of the ball, in my look at Jared Triolo and Ke’Bryan Hayes.
**WEDNESDAY: Jared Triolo and The Active Focus Time of a Third Baseman
How do the Pirates hitters grade in leverage situations? My look at the top performers in high, medium, and low leverage situations had some interesting revelations.
**THURSDAY: The Highs and the Lows
Oscar Marin and Andy Haines are in an impossible situation as the MLB coaches. The player development system from John Baker has allowed for every individual to develop in a better overall environment, but the Pirates are still holding some of their best individual prospects back. I wrote about the lack of challenging the best prospects in an extensive article detailing the Pirates’ development issues from my experience covering this system.
**FRIDAY: The Problem With the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Player Development
I’ve been getting into the NBA more this season. Part of that is because the game of baseball can’t teach me anything new, and just feels like work at this point. The game of basketball is allowing me a different perspective on athletic performance, which I related to baseball in my Saturday article.
**SATURDAY: Triple Double Focus
Check back tomorrow for my preview of the Pirates at the MLB Winter Meetings.
