Sarah Gelles to join Pirates as assistant GM (source)

The Pirates are set to hire Sarah Gelles as their assistant general manager, a source told MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand. The club has not confirmed the hire.

Gelles spent the previous five years in the Astros’ research and development department and was the department’s director since December 2019. During Gelles’ time with one of the most data-driven teams in MLB, the Astros won four division titles, two American League pennants and one World Series.

Gelles has worked in Major League front offices for more than a decade. The bulk of that time has been with the Orioles, for whom she worked from 2011-18. She was Baltimore’s coordinator of baseball analytics from 2012-14 before being promoted to director of baseball analytics.

In her final three years with the O’s, Gelles was the club’s director of analytics and Major League contracts. That tasked her with overseeing the Orioles’ analytics department, leading the development of internal baseball ops systems, handling Major League roster management and assisting then-general manager Dan Duquette with player acquisitions, negotiations and other aspects of baseball operations.

Gelles’ new job represents a reunion of sorts as the Philadelphia native was a baseball operations intern for the Pirates in 2009. She was also an intern in MLB’s labor relations department in 2010.