Oriole fans were surprised by the hiring of 40-year-old Jared Banner as general manager on Monday. President of baseball operations Mike Elias, who made the hire, had said the team needed help in the front office at the team’s season-ending news conference on September 28th.
“The answer is ‘good people,’ and it’s case-by-case and it’s individually based,” he said. “We have a small operation. It has been, I’ve seen in some metrics it’s like 29th in the league in terms of size in baseball operations, so we just have a lot of needs.”
“Baseball operations has been growing very, very rapidly over the last few years just with the way the game’s evolving. And I think with our ownership group now, we have a good opportunity to sort of participate in that growth a little bit more than we’ve been doing. And there’s parts of our baseball operation that I think I could use some different voices and ideas in more than others. I don’t know that I want to get into it here on the stage, but you’ll probably be able to see as these hires come in where we’re looking for some impact.”
In Banner, the Orioles got an executive who’s three years younger than the 43-year-old Elias, and has 18 years of major league experience, 11 with the Boston Red Sox, two with the New York Mets, and five with the Chicago Cubs.
Navigating the treacherous landscape in Boston is difficult, and Banner survived working under executives that included Theo Epstein, Ben Cherington, Mike Hazen and Dave Dombrowski.
In Chicago, he worked under Jed Hoyer, whom he first worked with in Boston.
Dombrowski, who served as the Red Sox’s president of baseball operations in Banner’s final three seasons and currently has the same title with the Philadelphia Phillies, raved about Banner.
“Thrilled to see Jared named as the general manager in Baltimore,” Dombrowski said in an e-mail on Monday. “Being around Jared in Boston, it was easy to see that he had an outstanding baseball mind, and that he was interested in every aspect of the game. He worked extremely hard and continued to grow his knowledge. The Orioles made a tremendous hire.”
According to the Orioles’ news release, Banner “will lead the organization’s player development, coaching and performance efforts, while also partnering with Elias on strategy, staffing, and talent acquisition, among other duties.”
Banner was with the Red Sox for three World Series titles — 2007, 2013 and 2018.
“JB is really curious, has a really strong motor, runs toward the hard jobs, and is willing to be bold,” Cherington, who’s now the Pittsburgh Pirates general manager, wrote in an e-mail. “He’s had a hand in personnel and development problem solving all over the globe. He’s had great experiences across three organizations and working alongside some great people. He’ll be an asset for the Orioles.”
The Cubs had winning records in his last four seasons with the team and qualified for the postseason in 2025 and 2026.
He joins a team that won the American League East in 2023 with 101 wins and was a wild-card team in 2024 before two straight losing seasons. The Orioles were 75-87 in 2025 and 79-82 this season.
Elias, who came to the Orioles in November 2018 and has served as president of baseball operations the past two seasons, has found the executive to replace him as general manager.
“Jared has been one of the rising talents in our league for some time, now,” Elias said in the Orioles’ release announcing the hire. “He has demonstrated success running multiple different departments and has worked alongside some of the best people and front office talent in the league across multiple stops. He is a perfect fit to grow, evolve and improve the Orioles’ baseball operations, and I look forward to working with him very closely as we build for 2027 and beyond. We welcome him and his family to Baltimore, and we are very pleased that they chose our team and our community for the next phase of their baseball journey.”
Banner, who also was vetted by owners David Rubenstein and Mike Arougheti, is eager to work with Elias.
“When I first heard Mike’s vision, I knew it was something I wanted to be a part of,” Banner said in the release. “The Orioles are a storied franchise with a passionate fanbase, a historic ballpark, and an organization full of talent. I look forward to building upon the foundation laid by Mike and his team to construct a world-class organization and bring championships back to Baltimore. I am extremely grateful to Mike, David, and Mike for the opportunity, and I am excited to get to work.”
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