Washington Nationals hire Ani Kilambi as general manager under Paul Toboni

Nationals President of Baseball Operations Paul Toboni just made a big move in the front office, hiring Ani Kilambi as general manager. This is a move that came out of the blue. For a high-profile GM position, there was no buzz surrounding the Nats hiring Kilambi. However, the move has been made and Kilambi will leave the Phillies to join the Nats.

At 31 years old, Kilambi fits the archetype that Paul Toboni was looking for in the front office. In a room full of young managers, Kilambi is one of the youngest. However, that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have experience. He has been working in baseball for almost ten years. Right out of college, he went to work for the Tampa Bay Rays.

Even before leaving school, Kilambi had a internship with the Rays organization, before that it became a full-time job. Interestingly enough, Kilambi went to Cal Berkeley like Toboni, but it is unclear if they had a crossover. Kilambi spent 5.5 years in the Rays organization. He worked on the R&D side and worked his way up in one of the smartest organizations in baseball.

In 2021, Kilambi left to become assistant GM for the Phillies, where he has been ever since. While in Philadelphia, Kilambi led the Phillies’ research and development department. When he joined the Phillies, he was only 27 years old, which shows how much of a prodigy he is.

Dave Dombrowski is seen as more of an old school guy. However, he has adapted as a manager, which is a big reason why he has been so successful for so long. Kilambi was instrumental in helping Dombrowski on the analytical side. The Inquirer wrote an interesting profile about him about a year ago.

This hire is both expected and unexpected. On the one hand, this is completely in line with the appointment of Paul Toboni. Kilambi is an emerging manager who is still very young. That is a profile that Toboni likes to focus on. He also meets a need within the organization. Toboni, as well as Devin Pearson and Justin Horowitz, have scouting backgrounds. They needed an R&D guy to fill their blind spots. Kilambi, as well as Mike DeBartolo, will help with that.

However, this is also a bit unexpected. In November, Toboni said he had no intention of hiring a general manager, but here it is just a month later and Ani Kilambi is the Nats’ general manager. I’m curious how we got here.

This is just an educated guess, but Toboni really wanted Kilambi, but the only way to get him out of Philadelphia was to offer him this GM role. That’s just my opinion, but it’s something that makes sense.

With this title, Kilambi will be above Pearson, Horowitz and DeBartolo on the organization’s depth chart. The only man he has to answer to is Paul Toboni. This is another big and very interesting swing from Toboni. I’m not sure how this new project will turn out, but it’s ambitious and I’m fascinated to see how it goes.