The Nationals are expected to appoint Blake Butera as their new manager. reports ESPN’s Jeff Passan. Butera served as the Rays’ Senior Director of Player Development for the past two seasons. He spent four years as a minor league manager with Tampa Bay.
As Passan points outThe 33-year-old Butera has since become the youngest manager Frank Quilici in 1972. It was a theme for the former Rays’ farmhand. After a few seasons as an infielder in the low minors, he moved to the coaching side and took over as skipper of High-A Hudson Valley in 2018. At 25, Butera was the youngest manager in organized baseball that season. per baseball reference.
After two seasons at Hudson Valley, Butera became the manager of Single-A Charleston. After winning a league title in 2021, he was named Low-A East Manager of the Year. Tampa Bay promoted Butera to Minor League Assistant Field Coordinator in 2023.
Butera also has coaching experience at international level. He worked for the Perth Heat in the Australian Baseball League from 2019 to 2020. In 2021, he was a quality control coach at Leones del Escogido in the Dominican League. Butera also served as bench coach for Italy in the 2023 World Baseball Classic.
Washington fired manager Davey Martinez in July. He has been at the helm since 2018. Martinez won a World Series with the team in 2019, but the team has struggled since then. The Nationals had lost more than 90 games in four straight seasons heading into 2025. They were 37-53 when Martinez was fired.
Bank coach Miguel Cairo taken over as interim manager. He was a candidate to take over full-time in 2026 but was left out of consideration earlier this week. Cairo, Brandon Hydeand Craig Albernaz were the only three candidates known to have interviewed for Washington’s vacancy. Albernaz eventually got the job in Baltimore.
Washington also moved on from longtime president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo during the season. Assistant general manager Mike DeBartolo took over as interim general manager to end the year. The Nationals then hired former Red Sox assistant general manager Paul Toboni as their president of baseball operations in late September. As Passan notesToboni, 35, is the youngest head of baseball operations in the league.
Once Butera is confirmed as the new Washington chief, three management vacancies will remain. Colorado, San Diego and Atlanta are still on the market. Minnesota, Baltimore, San Francisco, Texas and the Angels have all filled the position this season.
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