What Nationals Fans Need to Know About New Manager Blake Butera

Get to know the background of Washington Nationals new manager Blake Butera.

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The Washington Nationals have their manager.

Following a relatively quiet search that only seemed to start heating up in the past few days, a bombshell report dropped that indicated new president of baseball operations Paul Toboni was set to hire Blake Butera to become the skipper of the Nationals.

Not only did that news come as a shock based on the timing of things, but the fact that 33-year-old Butera is largely an unknown figure to the average baseball fan caught everyone off guard. Some further information has come out regarding Washington's new manager outside of him being one of the youngest MLB skippers of all-time, and below is what this fanbase needs to know about who Butera is as he gets set to take this job.

Former College Baseball and Minor League Player

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The first thing is that Butera was a baseball player. He played at Boston College for four years and put together a good career there. Not only was he a team captain his senior season, but he finished with program records in walks (112) and at-bats (774) to go along with a slash line of .266/.378/.342 across 306 total games.

That got Butera drafted in the 35th round of the draft by the Tampa Bay Rays in 2015. His professional career was short-lived. He only played 80 total games within the Rays' pipeline before focusing on becoming a coach, something that began immediately after he hung it up following the 2016 campaign.

Two-Time Champion and Manager of the Year

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Based on Washington hiring him to become their new manager at the age of 33, it seems like his decision to get into coaching was the right one. However, if he wasn't successful immediately out of the gate, then this wouldn't have come to fruition.

Butera took over Tampa Bay's short-season affiliate in 2018, the team he played for just two years prior. He remained in that position until the 2020 season was canceled due to COVID-19. But when minor league baseball resumed, he was given a promotion.

Butera was named the manager of their Single-A affiliate for 2021. That is really where he turned some heads, because not only did he win the Manager of the Year Award for the Carolina League that season, but the team also won the championship. Then, even more impressively, he followed that up in 2022 with back-to-back championships and another Manager of the Year Award to his name.

Worked for Forward-Thinking Organization

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After that, the Rays decided it was time to bring him up to their big league club, hiring him to be their assistant field coordinator. That role loosely entails supporting player development through practice planning, ensuring coaching consistency across the board at all levels and working with coaches and managers throughout the organization.

Following one year in that role, Tampa Bay made him their senior director of player development in October of 2023. In that role, he served as the team's farm director and was in charge of the entire player development process for a forward-thinking organization that prides itself on elite growth for their young players.

That alone made Butera a popular name in league circles. But when combining that with his minor league managerial background, it's easy to see why Toboni was interested in hiring Butera.