Astros hire Braves VP Dana Brown, who becomes MLB's only Black GM

The Houston Astros announced Thursday that they have hired Dana Brown, previously the Atlanta Braves' vice president of scouting, as their new general manager, ending a two-month search process after they parted ways with James Click.

With the promotion, Brown becomes the only Black general manager in MLB.

Before his four-year tenure as the Braves' head of scouting, Brown worked for the Toronto Blue Jays for nine years as special assistant to the general manager, with earlier stints as the director of scouting for the Washington Nationals and as a scout for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Brown's time with the Braves saw the team build a reputation as one of the top organizations in baseball when it comes to identifying and developing young talent. His first two seasons saw the team draft 2022 NL Rookie of the Year Michael Harris, Rookie of the Year runner-up Spencer Strider and Vaughn Grissom, who also showed promise in limited 2022 action.

The Braves made the playoffs all four seasons with Brown aboard, winning the World Series in 2021.

Bringing in a GM with a scouting-heavy résumé broadcasts a clear message from the Astros, whose owner Jim Crane has reportedly chafed at the team's famously analytics-heavy approach even while his team has enjoyed a run of success that includes two World Series titles, six straight ALCS appearances and four 100-win seasons.

Of course, it's not like the Astros struggled to find young talent when they were so data-heavy, but now Brown will be tasked with keeping the team's roster stocked after the departures of Carlos Correa, George Springer and, more recently, Justin Verlander.