Griggs dishes on new role, Camden Yards as O's president of business ops. 

BALTIMORE -- Catie Griggs wasn’t looking to leave her job as the Mariners’ president of business operations, a post she had held since July 2021. The 42-year-old was happy in Seattle, and her family didn’t plan on moving around a lot in the future.

Then, an opportunity arose that Griggs couldn’t turn down.

In August, Griggs became the first woman to serve as the Orioles’ president of business operations, joining a franchise that has been on the rise in recent years. Not only are the O’s the reigning American League East champions, but they have a new ownership group led by private equity billionaire (and Baltimore native) David Rubenstein that took over in March.

“I was not looking to make a move, and it took an incredibly special opportunity,” Griggs said. “There’s a really amazing window, I believe, both with this team in terms of the young talent that you have on the field and an amazing city with a lot of people who are really motivated to continue to invest in it and make it even better. And we’ve got an amazing ballpark and we’ve got an opportunity to continue to build on all of the amazing things that we have.

“It really was that combination of factors, combined with fantastic ownership, that led me to the Orioles.”

Griggs met with the media for nearly 16 minutes at Camden Yards on Wednesday, addressing a wide array of topics. Here’s a sampling of what she shared:

On her first weeks on the job:
“I think I’ve sat in roughly 15 different spots in the ballpark so far. For me, this is an incredible location. But it’s new to me, and I know that. And the only way I can get to know it is by experiencing it. We serve our fans, I want to understand what they’re going through. I was in the splash zone for the sixth inning the other night against the White Sox. I got real wet. It was a lot of fun. It’s been a joy, really, just getting to walk around the ballpark, get to understand how tis space works, get to understand how it fits in our community, and then spend a lot of time getting to know our staff.”

On potential renovations coming to Camden Yards in 2025 and beyond:
“So I think 2025 is likely going to be relatively smaller changes, just because it generally takes time from a permitting standpoint to ensure that we’re doing things right. So you will see things in ‘25. I think you’re likely to see much more substantive change in 2026. Just looking out behind you right now, I think we have some opportunity with the videoboards, and rumor has it that there’s some audio things that we might be looking to improve as well. But there’s a lot of things.

“I think one of the things that’s interesting with a ballpark like this is it’s incredible. Like this is truly one of the ballparks within Major League Baseball, and so, I think for us, it’s really important that we respect the integrity and the history of this ballpark and all the things that make it unique and special and amazing. And find ways where we can really accent that and deliver more value to our fans in ways that respects the past but also embraces the future.”

On the idea of hosting the All-Star Game in Baltimore for the first time since 1993:
“I’d love to have the opportunity to host an All-Star Game here. It’s truly an amazing opportunity to bring the community together, it can really showcase a city. I don’t think it comes as any surprise to anyone that, particularly coming out of COVID, Seattle and its downtown area didn’t have the best reputation. And [the 2023 All-Star Game] was an amazing opportunity for the organization to work alongside the private and public sector to focus on that downtown area and ensure that it was a space that fans wanted to be -- and I think we were very successful at that. I would feel privileged to have the opportunity to work alongside this organization, Major League Baseball and all of our partners in and around Baltimore to showcase the city. Because I’m still getting to know it, but so far, I really like what I see.”

On the potential of taking ideas from The Battery in Atlanta for the Camden Yards area:
“I think what Atlanta did with The Battery is pretty unique, and it was not an urban footprint, right? Part of the decision that they made was to leave their downtown neighborhood and their historic ballpark to move out further into the suburbs where there was more space. We’re not in that environment. So I don’t think what they did would make sense as a copycat here in Baltimore. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t components of it that we couldn’t look into in terms of, ‘How do we continue to reinvest and make sure that we’re creating an amazing experience?’ But I don’t think it’s going to be a copycat of that. But what they did was really incredible for the space they did it.”