Mentors say Jared Banner’s ‘infectious’ work ethic and ‘courage’ could fix the stagnating Orioles

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A 21-year-old Jared Banner, then interning for the Boston Red Sox out of Amherst College, sat with a blank expression on his face in the suite at Fenway Park.

Theo Epstein, the Red Sox’s general manager, couldn’t believe Banner hadn’t heard of Kent Hrbek, the longtime Minnesota Twins first baseman who retired when Banner was a child.

“Theo was like, ‘What the f--k? How old are you?’” recalled Jed Hoyer, another Red Sox executive in the suite that night in Boston. “Theo made him do a full presentation the next week on baseball in the ’80s.”

It was a joke of sorts, friendly banter with the young whippersnapper right out of college, and yet Banner poured himself into it. With a poster set up in a conference room and what Hoyer described as “science fair” flair, Banner didn’t just deliver a presentation on 1980s baseball.

He aced it.

“In typical Jared fashion, he embraced it,” said Hoyer, who now leads the Chicago Cubs, with whom he worked again with Banner. In that early demonstration for the Red Sox, Hoyer and everyone else caught a glimpse of Banner’s energetic and problem-solving nature. And it’s those attributes that the Orioles are banking on Banner bringing to Baltimore, where he is needed to inject new life into the organization.

The Orioles hired Banner, now 40, to become their general manager under president of baseball operations Mike Elias. According to a release from the team, Banner is charged with leading day-to-day operations of player development, coaching and performance efforts while partnering with Elias on strategy, staffing and acquisitions.

Orioles fans have clamored for this sort of change as Elias’ prolonged rebuild stalled. Given the finite competitive window allotted to most major league teams, the timeline for getting back on track must be short. Elias has repeatedly mentioned the need for outside voices, but it’s fair to wonder: Can a newcomer enact systemic change when so many of the people responsible for building the system remain? Put another way: Will Banner be able to convince Elias, his boss, of what’s broken and how it can be fixed?

According to those who have worked alongside him throughout his life — from Amherst College to the Boston Red Sox, New York Mets and, most recently, as the assistant general manager of the Cubs — there is no better position for Banner to find himself. He has taken hold of these sorts of tasks at each stop on his rise, after all.

Banner’s first task will be much steeper than that presentation on 1980s baseball. He must learn, then revolutionize, the Orioles’ player development system. He must recognize the reason so many highly talented prospects plateaued or regressed for the Orioles in recent years and correct the problem. He must help the Orioles get back on track following two straight losing seasons.

Elias became the Orioles’ general manager and was given years to rebuild the team. Banner will face immediate pressure to enact dramatic change — a task his supporters say he is up to.

“To be able to hold your own in the Red Sox front office at 21 years old speaks volumes of who Jared is,” said Brian Hamm, who served as the assistant coach at Amherst while Banner was there. “Jared’s most impressive character trait outside of his consistency is his courage, and I don’t mean to say that in any cliché way. He’s one of the most courageous people I’ve ever met.”

Just look at him in New York eight years ago, as a 32-year-old in the room where it happens.

Not just player development

Brodie Van Wagenen kept a tight circle during those two years as the general manager of the Mets. He came to the job from a unique path, serving as an agent before jumping into one of the most prominent executive positions in baseball, but he wasn’t alone.

Banner was one of four people he leaned on, a group that included veteran baseball executive Omar Minaya.

Yet Banner — who was not made available to speak for this article — was involved in every decision. He ran the minor league system and player development group but weighed in on the draft and “every trade-deadline decision and every major league roster decision,” Van Wagenen said.

“He had a very robust role at a very young age, and he’s only built upon that the last six years with the Cubs,” Van Wagenen, who now runs Roc Nation’s baseball division, said. “He didn’t stagnate.”

For Van Wagenen, “differing opinions were helpful and were valuable as we were assessing things,” and Banner was never shy about standing out.

What Hamm meant by his former player being courageous goes beyond the catch Banner made as a senior playing for Hamm and Bill Thurston at Amherst. The center fielder ran full speed into the cinder block fence at Terry Park in Fort Myers, Florida — and then got up and finished the game.

Banner also had a more subtle kind of fortitude that drew other players to him.

“He’s true to his moral compass and his belief system that he’s had, which he’s always had, from the moment I’ve known him,” Hamm said. “As you and I both know, that’s a rare quality in somebody, to be so consistent and have such conviction in what you stand for.”

It became clear Banner’s path in the game would be off the field, and he made a connection with another Amherst grad, current Pirates general manager Ben Cherington, who helped him land the internship with the Red Sox. Over the next 18 years, he worked his way up but always had a hand in player development.

His background appears to pair well with the Orioles’ greatest need. They parted ways with Matt Blood, the vice president of player and staff development, in September. Early in the process of hiring a general manager, the search focused on individuals with player development experience.

“He’s going to push initiatives and be aggressive and there’s things he believes in that he’s going to push, and push people, and I think that’s the accountability piece,” said Ryan Flaherty, a former Orioles infielder who is now the Cubs’ bench coach.

Flaherty said Banner would spend three or four hours a day in the clubhouse, in the coaches room or on the field in Chicago. He built relationships with players and staff members. He studied nutrition and strength training. And he wasn’t afraid to challenge players and coaches.

After games, if Flaherty was frustrated over some mistake that occurred on the field, Banner would cut through the noise with a direct question.

“He’d say, ‘Flash, did you practice it with the player?’” Flaherty recalled. “I’d sit there and say, ‘No, I didn’t.’ He’d say, ‘Well, why are you mad? You didn’t practice it, right?’”

It was a reminder to make sure the same mistake wouldn’t happen twice.

“Everyone’s searching for that dynamic, right? That dynamic of front office, coaches and players, and how leadership and how all those things mingle together to create that culture word everyone’s searching for,” Flaherty said. “It takes a special person. He’s empathetic at times. He’s challenging at times. You can connect with him. It’s all those things I think he really embraces.”

Banner has always yearned for information. He soaked in what Thurston, the legendary coach at Amherst, taught him. He asked question after question with the Red Sox, Mets and Cubs — and his curiosity hasn’t waned even as he steps into one of baseball’s premier roles.

Banner worked with Dave Dombroski, the Philadelphia Phillies’ president of baseball operations, in Boston. Ever since, he’s made time to grab lunch whenever the two are in the same city.

“People are very busy. People have a lot going on. Chicago plays a lot of day games, so it’s not always easy. But he always did that,” Dombrowski said. “He was always interested in just staying in touch and reaching out for information and help and trying to continually grow.”

But what stands out to those who know him is his ability to filter what he’s learned into his own framework for how to go about his task.

“He’s always had confidence and conviction to have a voice in the room,” Van Wagenen said. “ He has a keen sense of being able to apply what he’s heard and what he’s experienced into good decision-making.”

Hoyer said Banner had the autonomy in Chicago to negotiate his own trades and contracts. The acquisition of Pete Crow-Armstrong stands out as a major win for the Cubs. Banner remembered the rising outfielder from his time with the Mets, and he was an advocate for bringing the game-changing player to Chicago.

But Crow-Armstrong didn’t become a potential MVP by accident. Hoyer said a key factor in enabling the Cubs to restock after their 2016 World Series win was Banner’s leadership of the minor leagues, which included clear messaging, lofty goals and “attention to detail at every level.”

That was a continuation of what he brought to the Mets. Every team has individualized plans for prospects. But Van Wagenen was most impressed with how in-depth Allard Baird and Banner went for each player in the system.

Those plans went beyond swing adjustments and pitch usage. They included nutritional needs and mental skills instruction. The all-encompassing focus is what Banner expects of himself and, because of that, others follow.

“Jared has discipline and expects everybody to put forward the same level of work ethic and commitment that he has,” Van Wagenen said, “and it can be infectious.”

The task ahead

After one game during Banner’s senior year at Amherst, a scout approached Hamm with a message that aptly applies all these years later.

“That Banner kid out in the outfield, man, that guy plays the game like it’s the last game of his life,” Hamm remembers the scout saying.

“All he cared about was winning,” Hamm said. “That’s the cool thing, certainly, for the Orioles. If you look at Jared and the organizations that he’s been with, his teams have won everywhere he’s gone.”

That intangible has been missing from Baltimore. The Orioles have been in steady decline since a 101-win 2023 season. They’ve missed the postseason for two straight years. They haven’t won a postseason game since 2014. Their last World Series win came in 1983.

Most recently, a vaunted farm system — three Orioles players were No. 1 in Baseball America’s top-100 rankings from 2022 to 2024 — has failed to deliver at the major league level. For something to change, more than introspection is required.

Elias is betting that Banner — who’d run through a wall or assemble a detailed presentation, whatever it took — can figure out what needs to change and then pull off the hard part: changing it.

“He challenges people, but at the same time, through that, really ends up connecting,” Flaherty said. “He has a unique way of creating a fun, open work atmosphere, but at the same time, accountability is really high.”