The Nationals are expected to hire Blake Butera as their new manager, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. Butera had been 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 out, the 33-year-old Butera will be the youngest manager since Frank Quilici in 1972. It’s been a theme for the former Rays’ farmhand. After a couple of seasons as an infielder in the low minors, he moved to the coaching side, taking over as skipper of High-A Hudson Valley in 2018. At 25 years old, Butera was the youngest manager in organized baseball that season, per Baseball Reference.
After two seasons with 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 the international level. He worked for the Perth Heat in the Australian Baseball League from 2019 to 2020. He served as a quality control coach with Leones del Escogido in the Dominican League in 2021. Butera was also a bench coach for Italy in the 2023 World Baseball Classic.
Washington fired manager Davey Martinez in July. He had been at the helm since 2018. Martinez won a World Series with the team in 2019, but the team had struggled since then. The Nationals had lost 90+ games in four straight seasons heading into 2025. They were 37-53 when Martinez was dismissed.
Bench coach Miguel Cairo took over as interim manager. He was a candidate to take over full-time in 2026, but was removed from consideration earlier this week. Cairo, Brandon Hyde, and Craig Albernaz were the only three candidates known to have interviewed for Washington’s vacancy. Albernaz ended up landing the Baltimore job.
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 close 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 notes, the 35-year-old Toboni is the youngest head of baseball operations in the league.
Once Butera is confirmed as the new head man in Washington, there will be three managerial vacancies remaining. Colorado, San Diego, and Atlanta are still in the market. Minnesota, Baltimore, San Francisco, Texas, and the Angels have all filled the position this offseason.