Breaking: Washington Nationals Make Historic Choice for New Manager

The Washington Nationals have broken the chain of simply recycling old managers in deciding on their new field boss for 2026. The Nats have surprised many by hiring 33-year-old Blake Butera — He'll be the youngest manager in MLB in over half a century.

The Washington Nationals are hiring 33-year-old Blake Butera as their next manager, per @JeffPassan, making him the youngest manager since Frank Quilici of the Minnesota
Twins in 1972
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) October 30, 2025

The Nationals have had a complete overhaul in their management structure this year, after jettisoning general manager Mike Rizzo and manager Dave Martinez in July. They've since gone full youth-movement, hiring former Boston Red Sox assistant GM Paul Toboni, 35, as the sport's youngest president of baseball operations, and now Butera will join him as the youngest skipper.

New Nationals manager has two minor league championships as skipper

Butera has had great success managing in the minors, and obviously resonates well with young, developing players. In four minor league seasons as a field boss, beginning when he was just 25 years old, he racked up a 258-144 record and led his teams to first-place finishes each and every year. With Low-A Charleston, Butera won two league championships.

But alas, the majors are not Low-A. The Twins, however, are undergoing a youth movement/rebuild, so this could very well align with Butera's strengths in shepherding young players.

He was brought up in the Tampa Bay Rays organization, serving as the senior player development director, in addition to those low minors managing assignments. And typical of the Rays' style, he's also displayed "fluency in advanced metrics and the detail-oriented approach" that marks that organization, notes Jeff Passan.

The new-look Nats can begin their long rebuild with a franchise cornerstone in place, in outfielder James Wood (31 HR, 94 RBIs, .825 OPS in his first full season in 2025), but not much else. As Passan writes, "Washington's path back to relevancy in the loaded National League East is expected to take years."