Pirates hire Astros research, development director Sarah Gelles as assistant GM

The Pittsburgh Pirates have hired Sarah Gelles, who spent the past five years as the Houston Astros’ director of research and development, as an assistant general manager, a source told TribLive.

Gelles becomes the highest-ranking woman in the Pirates’ baseball operations staff, working with general manager Ben Cherington and alongside assistant GMs Kevan Graves and Steve Sanders.

The Athletic named Gelles one of 12 potential future stars in management in coaching. She received the most votes from baseball scouts, analysts, managers, front office executives and specialists.

Jeneane Lesko was at @Mariners Women In Baseball night with @shannondrayer, Sarah Gelles, Amanda Hopkins, @kmunro1 & @megrowler #AAGPBL pic.twitter.com/7u1hvKAB0I

— AAGPBL Official (@AAGPBL) August 16, 2017

Like Cherington and his predecessor, Neal Huntington, Gelles is an Amherst graduate. A Philadelphia native who attended Germantown Friends School, she served as an intern with the Pirates in research and development in 2009, then worked for MLB in the commissioner’s office on labor relations in 2010. She joined the Baltimore Orioles’ research and development department in 2011, and worked as coordinator of baseball analytics before being promoted to director of analytics in 2014 and adding major league contracts in 2016.

Gelles joined Houston as program manager for research and development in 2018 and became the director a year later. Under her leadership, the Astros “solidified their reputation as the standard for player development and the implementation of proprietary research up and down the food chain,” The Athletic wrote, with one analyst citing her “amazing ability to oversee dozens of projects and not ever give the appearance that her attention is divided.”