After PoBO Paul Toboni was hired by the Washington Nationals, he said that hiring a manager was a top priority. There is no surprise that Toboni went for a minor league manager with a record of success. It was part of our poll where we not only named Matt LeCroy from the Nats’ Triple-A affiliate as a candidate, but also a choice for an un-named minor league manager — now has the name, Blake Butera.
My suggestion, after the Texas Rangers manager named Skip Schumaker as their manager and took him off the board early as a candidate, was to go the route of a minor league manager or top collegiate head coach — and marry that person up with a tactical bench coach like Chip Hale who was the Nats’ 2019 World Series bench coach. The yin to the yang.
So no, you shouldn’t be surprised that a former minor league manager in Tampa’s system, Butera, was picked to be the Washington Nationals new MLB manager. Is this a risk for Toboni? Yes. It is a risk — but a calculated risk. This roster was begging for a manager who could get more out of the young players with the strong top prospect backgrounds. You know, players like James Wood, Dylan Crews, Brady House, Daylen Lile, Robert Hassell III, etc. They were all Top-100 prospects with the exception of Lile. And of course at different times, Wood and Crews were the No. 1 prospects in all of baseball.
Sources told us that Butera should be that guy to bring out the best in these players. Toboni was looking for a manager who could rev players up a gear.
“I think more than anything, we have some young, exciting players. I’ve been in touch with a number of them to date, and they’re fun to watch. And I’ve told many of them, while I haven’t had the chance to reach out to everyone, I’ve told many of them, and I really believe it, I think there’s another gear to tap into with many of them. So it’s not just that they’re already really talented players. It’s that it’s easy for me to see a world a year or two down the line where we’re seeing a different caliber player in a good way.”
— Toboni said after he was hired talking about that extra “gear”
“So many of these [young Nats players] have such great skill sets. Now, it’s up to me to hopefully place the support around them where we can tap into another gear for them. But at the same time, it’s up to them to hold themselves accountable — and hold each other accountable — to reach each of their own potentials.”
Butera, 33, will be the youngest manager in MLB in 53 years since Frank Quilici managed the Twins, the former Washington Senators. Butera is just two months older than Bryce Harper. In Butera’s four seasons as a minor league manager in the Rays organization, his teams had an impressive 258-144 record, and that included two Single-A championships in the two years he managed that team in the Carolina League.
For some, age is but a number. A person’s chronological age should not define their abilities, potential, or worth. What they have accomplished should matter more.
” I was the President/GM at Hudson Valley the two seasons Blake managed there. He is very qualified for this. Blake is a strong communicator, and he has a tremendous knowledge of the game. I hope fans will take the time to get to know him and learn what he is all about. Nats fans are absolutely going to love him. I hope he has many successful years in Washington.”
— Steve Gliner told us in an exclusive interview
In Toboni’s world, age isn’t a factor if you have the résumé and fit his culture as Toboni said that he wants to have “the right people in the building that can not only drive the process that we want but then also create the culture that we want.” He went on to say, “Not necessarily just a culture around winning, but a culture where people value the right things and they’re dependable — and they’re humble and they work their butts off. I think it took a bit of time to develop it in Boston, but we were patient and pretty disciplined with how we built out our staff, and I think it started to pay off in the long run.”
In 2015, Butera, at 5’9 and 170 pounds, was drafted in the 35th round of the MLB Draft as an infielder out of Boston College by Tampa. He was a four-year starter at BC and graduated with a degree in communications. While at Boston College, Butera set the school record with the most walks in their history with 112 walks. He was also voted the team captain as a senior in 2015. Pete Frates of the Ice Bucket Challenge was on the Boston College staff when Butera played there. Butera played with former Nats’ Donovan Casey, and Jake Alu took Butera’s place on the roster the season after Butera graduated in 2015.
“Blake’s drive and vision have always stood out. He’s not only immersed himself in the details of player development, but he’s learned how to motivate and connect with young talent. Blake has always taken full advantage of any opportunity he has been given, both as a player and a coach. This incredible opportunity will be no different.”
— said Greg Sullivan, Boston College assistant Baseball Coach, in an exclusive interview
“He has always had an incredible emphasis on fundamentals, accountability, and growth. I expect him to make the Nationals and the entire organization better every single day. He’s not just inheriting a roster; he’s inheriting an opportunity. The talent is there. With Blake in charge, the process now has purpose.”
Butera’s minor league career only spanned two years then he stayed with the Rays and went into coaching with great success. The Rays promoted him to minor league assistant field coordinator in 2023, and most recently to senior director of player development in 2024.
Butera also has coaching experience at the international level, serving as bench coach for Team Italy under Mike Piazza in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, and he was the quality control coach for Leones del Escogido of the Dominican Winter League as well as a coach for the Perth Heat of the Australian Baseball League.
It was in 2018, Butera, then 25, was named the manager of the Hudson Valley Renegades and led that short-season Single-A club to the first of two consecutive first-place finishes in the New York-Penn League. He was promoted to manager of the Single-A Charleston River Dogs in 2021 and led that team to back-to-back Carolina League titles, with an 88-44 record in 2022.
How impressive is Butera’s curriculum vitae (CV)? Find someone else who accomplished that much at this young of an age. Oh, sure, Paul Toboni. Seriously though, the people that Toboni is hiring have extensive backgrounds with big accomplishments at young ages. The fact that Butera lived the life in the minor leagues and transitioned to coaching and then to a field coordinator position and finally to a senior director of player development says so much.
The belief from Toboni is that you have to build a strong foundation. Before taking over, that was a foundation built on shaky ground. The seismic earthquake was felt around 1500 South Capitol St. SE. That’s the reason why the numbers are several dozen deep of people who aren’t around anymore. What started on July 6 with the firing of Dave Martinez and Mike Rizzo continued after the season ended as Toboni cleaned house — not entirely — but we were told the floor in Nationals Park that houses the front office staff is mostly empty.
But truth be told, the Nationals had a lot of people who should have been fired a long time ago. People who should have lost their job were just shuffled to other job titles with the same pay. It created bloat at the top, and the money was being spent in the wrong places. Certainly as we’ve said before, this started with the deadly combination of bad drafts, poor decisions, and an ineffective player development system. My scouting budget is $0 and I would have had this team as a perpetual winner. It isn’t all about the money — it is about talent and the ability to see the talent in people and players — first and foremost. Next is about the process of player development.
These seem to be steps in the right direction. You have to start somewhere, and why not go this route with such a young team to have their manager come from a background of developmental success. Toboni has a lot riding on this decision to hire Butera. This is not a move you see often, but the Los Angeles Rams hired a 30 year old head coach, Sean McVay, and five years later he was the youngest coach to win a Super Bowl.
Again, Butera needs a bench coach who will complement him — not compliment him. You don’t want a suck-up who will just be in agreement with the manager. You want some friction. With friction you can start a fire. And the fire was missing a long time in that dugout. You want a bench coach as someone who has sat in the seat before and would be a good tactician and be in Butera’s ear during games. We saw Hale do that with Martinez during the 2019 World Series run. We saw the fire. Unfortunately, Martinez discarded Hale and replaced him with Tim Bogar, then got rid of Bogar and replaced him with a “yes man” in Miguel Cairo who ironically replaced Martinez as the Nats interim-manager for the remainder of the 2025 season.
Soon, we should hear Butera talk when his hiring becomes official. We will learn a lot more about him as people step forward with more information. In Tampa’s system after Butera was drafted, he was teammates with Nathaniel Lowe. Butera and pending free agent, Michael King, were teammates for 2 seasons at Boston College. In his youth, Butera grew up in Madisonville, Louisiana, a New Orleans suburb, and might have some Cajun flair that will endear him to Crews and Cole Henry as LSU guys. There will be parallels we start to see as we learn more going forward. This is the honeymoon period. Soon, he will have an MLB record — and that is ultimately how Butera will be judged.
“He developed in Tampa, they are progressive and inclusive. He has experience translating metrics and data to players from different backgrounds and ages. Perfect for this diverse roster.”
— From a former colleague of new Nationals manager Blake Butera as posted by the Washington Post’s Spencer Nusbaum
There could be a familial connection to Sal Butera, who was a former catcher who played in MLB from 1980 to 1988 and to the elder Butera’s son, Drew Butera, a long-time MLB catcher from 2010-2021. Blake’s father, Barry, played baseball at Tulane and went on to play three seasons for the Pawtucket Red Sox. Blake’s older brother, Barry Jr., also played baseball.
To make the Butera hire successful, you have to surround him with great coaches. That is the next step in the process. This is all a process. It started in earnest the day Toboni was hired. Let’s see where this goes. The reporting of this hire was first mentioned by Jeff Passan of ESPN.
