Nationals Set to Hire Their Next Manager With Blake Butera Reportedly Finalizing Deal

The Washington Nationals have made their hire.

Patrick Oehler/Poughkeepsie Journal

It seems like the wait to see who is going to become the next manager of the Washington Nationals is now over.

Following news that Miguel Cairo had been told he was no longer in the running. And following reports that former Baltimore Orioles skipper Brandon Hyde had been interviewed and others like 2019 AL Manager of the Year winner Rocco Baldelli were being targeted by the Nationals, it appears like president of baseball operations Paul Toboni has made his decision.

According to Jeff Passan of ESPN, Washington is finalizing a deal to hire Blake Butera as their next manager, a move that would be historic since he would become the youngest skipper in Major League Baseball at 33 years old and the youngest hired since the Minnesota Twins hired Frank Quilici in 1972.

News: The Nationals are hiring Blake Butera, who at 33 will be the youngest MLB manager in more than half a century. Details on his background, what made him a strong candidate and why he was the choice, free at ESPN: https://t.co/1RGh7i0L5x

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) October 30, 2025

Like the insider pointed out, nothing has been finalized at the time of writing. But it appears like Butera is going to be the next manager of the Nationals as this regime has their sights set on going in a completely different direction from the previous one.

Passan added that Butera was an "unlikely candidate." The insider didn't give further detail about why this was the decision made by Washington, but he did note that, "[Butera's] combination of managerial and player-development experience appealed to the Nationals, whose hiring of the 35-year-old Toboni gave them the youngest head of baseball operations as well."

Who Is Blake Butera?

Patrick Oehler/Poughkeepsie Journal

Butera was selected in the 35th round of the 2015 draft by the Tampa Bay Rays out of Boston College, where he served as a team captain. He only played two years in the Rays' minor league system before becoming a coach.

In 2018, at just 25 years old, he was named the manager of Tampa Bay's Single-A affiliate. He was the youngest manager in the minors when he was hired to that position, so donning that title like he'll have with the Nationals is not new to him.

Butera was also successful in that role. In both 2021 and 2022, he won the Manager of the Year Award. That earned him a promotion to minor league field coordinator ahead of the 2023 season before he was promoted again to senior director of player development in October of 2023.

Now, after being regarded as a future manager by many around baseball, Butera will be tasked with getting things back on track in Washington, leading a young major league roster that will have plenty of talented prospects coming up the pipeline in the near future.