David Stearns

David Stearns
Born	1984/1985 (age 39–40) Manhattan, New York
Alma mater	Harvard University
Occupation	General manager
Organization	Milwaukee Brewers

David Stearns (born 1984 or 1985) is an American baseball executive who serves as the general manager of the Milwaukee Brewers of Major League Baseball (MLB). Stearns previously served as the assistant general manager of MLB's Houston Astros, worked for the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball, the Arizona Fall League, and in the baseball operations departments for the Cleveland Indians and New York Mets.

Career

Stearns graduated from Harvard University with a degree in political science in 2007. While he attended Harvard, he interned with the Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball (MLB).

After graduating from Harvard, Stearns worked for the baseball operations departments for the New York Mets and the Arizona Fall League. He joined the MLB Central Office in 2008, where he worked on the negotiating team for MLB's collective bargaining agreement. He spent his last 13 months in the central office as manager of labor relations, where he aided teams going through the process of salary arbitration. In December 2011, the Cleveland Indians hired Stearns as their director of baseball operations, focusing on player contracts, data analysis, and strategy. In November 2012, the Houston Astros, who had lost over 100 games in both of the past two seasons, hired Stearns as assistant general manager, second only to Jeff Luhnow, the general manager. While many organizations have multiple assistant general managers, the Astros employed only Stearns in the role.

When talking about August 2015, Luhnow said of his staff: “There’s several people in our organization that have GM potential, and David’s one of them." At that time, the Milwaukee Brewers began searching for a new general manager, prioritizing youth and experience with data analytics, which the Astros used in their rebuild. On September 21, 2015, the Milwaukee Brewers named Stearns their next general manager, succeeding Doug Melvin, who they announced would remain with the team in an advisory role. At thirty years of age, he became the youngest general manager in MLB, and is one year younger than the Brewers' Ryan Braun. At his introductory press conference, Stearns endorsed Craig Counsell as the Brewers' manager.

Stearns fired five of the Brewers' seven coaches, and began to restructure the front office by reassigning Gord Ash, the assistant general manager, and Reid Nichols, the farm director within the organization, and hiring Matt Arnold from the Tampa Bay Rays as assistant general manager. During his first offseason as general manager, Stearns replaced half of the members of the Brewers' 40-man roster.

Personal life

Stearns was born and raised in Manhattan. He is engaged to Whitney Ann Lee.