Orioles Hire Sig Mejdal As Assistant General Manager

The Orioles announced that they’ve hired former Astros executive Sig Mejdal as an assistant general manager with a focus on analytics. Mejdal becomes the first front office hire under new GM Mike Elias. The pair is well acquainted already, having worked together in the Houston front office.

“Sig Mejdal is one of the most experienced and accomplished analysts working in baseball today,” said Elias in a press release announcing the hire. “To have him join our Orioles organization is a major moment for this franchise, and I look forward to him charting the course for all of our forthcoming efforts in the analytics space.”

Mejdal’s baseball career began in 2005, when the Cardinals hired him as a quantitative analyst — a pronounced change from his previous work as an engineer and biomathematician for the likes of Lockheed Martin and NASA. In a front office career that has now spanned more than a decade, Mejdal has focused on the draft, Major League roster decisions and organizational process improvement. He’s also worked with minor league players and coaches in an effort to help them utilize new technology and data at the field level.

An expanded analytics department will be a key focus for Elias, Mejdal and the rest of the Orioles’ front office, though that’s just one of numerous areas the organization will be looking to improve in the coming years. Perhaps most notably, the Orioles have also fallen behind the curve in terms of international scouting and have been outspoken about the desire to add resources and facilities in that regard with an eye toward rebuilding what had become a barren farm system. MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand tied Mejdal to the Orioles organization at the time of Elias’ hiring, tweeting that Mejdal would “likely” join his former colleague in the revamped Baltimore front office.