St. Louis Cardinals exec to keynote SBJ event

Courtesy MLB.com

Mike Girsch is scheduled to speak at SBJ Connect in September.

St. Louis Cardinals executive Mike Girsch is coming to the Queen City to speak at an upcoming event hosted by Springfield Business Journal.

Girsch, vice president and general manager for the Cardinals, is the scheduled keynote speaker for SBJ Connect, previously called the Springfield Business Expo. The day-long business education and networking event is slated to be held Sept. 19 at Wilson Logistics Arena, according to a news release issued May 24.

"I'm going to talk a decent amount about how I got into baseball," Girsch said in an interview with SBJ. "I'm an analytics guy. I'm going to talk about how we use numbers."

Girsch, who earned his bachelor's in mathematics from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, joined the Cardinals in 2006, starting as coordinator of amateur scouting. He was director of baseball operations 2008-11 and previously served as assistant general manager until his 2017 appointment as the Cardinals' 13th general manager in franchise history, according to his bio at MLB.com.

He said his approach to the game is similar to strategies presented in the 2011 film "Moneyball," which delves into how baseball executives began using analytics to inform decisions.

"I prefer to have my opinion informed by information as opposed to my gut," Girsch said. "A huge part of being a successful organization is having processes in place for everything."

In the release, SBJ Publisher Marty Goodnight said the business journal "is both excited and honored for Mike Girsch to be our keynote speaker at SBJ Connect."

"Adding Mike to our all-star speaker lineup will make this an unforgettable and valuable experience for everyone in attendance – baseball fan or not," Goodnight said in the release.

SBJ Connect also will include business exhibits and an event program featuring SBJ brands like 60 Ideas in 60 Minutes, CEO Roundtable and 12 People You Need to Know.