Baltimore Orioles GM Wins Coveted Executive of the Year Award
It was an incredible season for the Baltimore Orioles in 2023.
They won 101 games, the most in the American League for the first time since 1997 and their fifth-best record ever. They made the playoffs for the first time since 2016 and won the AL East for the first time since 2014.
It was an incredible turnaround since winning 52 games in 2021.
The Orioles' players and manager Brandon Hyde are getting much of the recognition for their success on the field, but maybe the most important person in the building is general manager Mike Elias, who architected this entire roster.
Because of that, Elias has now been voted Executive of the Year by his peers, according to Bob Nightengale of USA TODAY.
The coveted award is a culmination of the hard work and smart decisions that he's made since taking over in 2018.
Baltimore was coming off a 47-115 record that year and Elias made the decision to hire Hyde as his manager. They struggled for a few years early on as they attempted to build up their farm system and use high draft picks to get elite talent into the organization.
The Orioles subsequently drafted Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson in the 2019 MLB Draft. Jackson Holliday was selected first overall in 2022.
Their farm system has become the best in the MLB and is loaded with talent ready to produce at the Major League level.
Now, they are set up to succeed for years to come with the star players they organically developed and others that are in their pipeline.
Elias is Baltimore's first executive to win this award since it was handed out after the 2018 season.