How Nationals Are Impacted by Departure of Scouting Director Danny Haas To Orioles

The Washington Nationals are seeing the first shake-up in their front office take place.

Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

The Washington Nationals are in flux when it comes to their baseball operations team.

Following the in-season firings of both president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo and manager Dave Martinez, the franchise has turned the page on their past regime that brought them their first-ever World Series championship in 2019.

The futures of interim general manager Mike DeBartolo and interim manager Miguel Cairo are uncertain. DeBartolo has done his best to position himself as someone who is different than Rizzo, pointing to his usage of data and advanced statistics that this organization hadn't used in the past.

But all signs have pointed to the Nationals making a change in their front office, and the first domino appears to have just fallen.

Danny Haas, the Nationals’ scouting director, is leaving his role to join the Baltimore Orioles, per source.

Haas was hired by former GM Mike Rizzo following the 2023 season. Drafted Eli Willits No. 1 overall this year. Previously worked for the Orioles for seven seasons.

— Andrew Golden (@andrewcgolden) September 3, 2025

Andrew Golden of The Washington Post reported that Danny Haas -- the team's scouting director -- has decided to leave his role and rejoin the Baltimore Orioles, the franchise he was with prior to coming to Washington following the 2023 season.

Haas was hired with the intent on turning around the Nationals' draft outcomes. In the previous few years, they have had mixed results. Cade Cavalli, Brady House, Cole Henry, Daylen Lile and Dylan Crews stand out as high draft picks, but they either have just now reached the majors or haven't turned into what was projected, which is better than some of the other selections that were made.

But Haas wasn't exactly perfect in his two draft cycles, either. 2024 stands out as a potential miss, with Seaver King's surprising selection at No. 10 overall looking like a bust, while second-round pick Luke Dickerson has not developed as expected.

2025 looks much better, though, with Eli Willits appearing like a future star at the beginning of his career and second-round pick Ethan Petry looking like he could climb through the pipeline quickly based on his early performance.

What Danny Haas' Departure Could Signal for Nationals

Brad Mills-Imagn Images

At the time of writing, it hasn't been revealed why exactly Haas decided to leave the Nationals and why he did it at this moment. But it's now hard to imagine that Washington won't clean house and completely start over when it comes to their front office.

Whether Haas departed the Nationals because he got wind of that and decided to get reintegrated with his former team at this stage of the season or whether he just felt like he had a better opportunity elsewhere, the fact that such a prominent member of the front office has left a month before the season ends is notable.

Haas was a hire of the former regime, with Rizzo deciding to bring him in to help with their draft strategy. DeBartolo was likely part of that decision making process since he was the assistant general manager at the time. And because it looks like the Lerner family is ready to go in a completely different direction when it comes to the baseball operations team, the departure of Haas could be the precursor to DeBartolo also departing the organization.

Change appears to be coming for the Nationals this upcoming offseason, and the surprising departure of Haas appears like the first step of that.