Tigers promote Ryan Garko to assistant general manager, Georgia Giblin and Andrew Thomas named vice presidents

DETROIT – The Detroit Tigers today announced that Ryan Garko has been promoted to Vice President, Assistant General Manager, while Georgia Giblin has been promoted to Vice President, Baseball Performance Science. Additionally, Andrew Thomas has joined the organization as Vice President, Baseball Analytics.

“Creating a culture of development in which players at all levels can grow and improve is one of our foundational goals,” said Scott Harris, Detroit Tigers President of Baseball Operations. “The work of Gark and Georgia, along with many others, over the past few years helped make that culture of development a reality. These well-deserved promotions will amplify their voices and influence, helping players throughout our organization get the most out of their abilities. We also welcome Andrew, who comes to us with impressive technical skills, experience teaching at multiple academic institutions, and a terrific reputation within the sports industry. I’m confident he will be a great thought partner and leader for our talented analytics group.”

Garko is in his fourth season with the Tigers after originally joining the organization as Vice President, Player Development on September 23, 2021. During his tenure, the Tigers farm system has seen steady improvement, and several players have graduated from prospect status to regulars in the Major League lineup. Garko has played a key role in leading the club’s modernization of its player development system, including staff, technology, and facility upgrades. This has helped better position Tigers affiliates and prospects to have success, including ascending to being ranked in the top-five of all farm systems by ESPN, MLB Pipeline, and Baseball America, and having four prospects currently ranked in MLB Pipeline’s top 100.

Prior to joining the Tigers, Garko spent the 2020-21 seasons on the Major League coaching staff with the Los Angeles Angels as a coaching assistant/instant replay coordinator. He also served as the head coach at the University of the Pacific from 2018-19, was a manager for Double A Tulsa in the Los Angeles Dodgers organization in 2016-17, and was an assistant coach at Stanford University in 2013-14.

Giblin is in her fifth season with Detroit. Based out of the club’s TigerTown Complex in Lakeland, FL, she has led the creation and steady growth of the Tigers’ Performance Science department, which is focused on integrating technology and quantitative analysis with traditional baseball methods to support the skill development and health of players throughout the organization. Following the 2021 season, she was named the Dwight Lowry Award winner, which is given to the Tigers Player Development person of the year.

Prior to joining the Tigers as a post-doctoral fellow through a partnership with the University of Michigan, Giblin completed her PhD in Biomechanics and Skill Acquisition at Victoria University in Melbourne, Australia, and worked four years as a Biomechanist at the Queensland Academy of Sport, supporting the softball, track and field, triathlon, and archery Olympic programs.

Thomas brings a wealth of experience in data science, analytics, and research development to the Tigers. He spent the last four and a half years at SMT (SportsMEDIA Technology Corp)., most recently as the Senior Director, Data Science. In that role, he led all data science and engineering projects across multiple sports, including baseball, hockey, football, tennis, golf, and motorsports.

Thomas spent eight years as a consultant for multiple Major League Baseball teams and served as the Lead Hockey Researcher for the Minnesota Wild from 2016-19. He was a professor of Statistics and Data Science at Carnegie Mellon University from 2009-2014 and the University of Florida in 2015.

Thomas earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He completed a Master of Arts degree and his PhD in Statistics from Harvard University.

Additionally, Scott Bream will now serve as Senior Advisor to the President & General Manager. In that role, he will use his 36 years of experience in professional baseball to play a lead role in player evaluation, as well as advising senior leadership and multiple departments within baseball operations.