News Nationals Team Notes

[Washington Nationals]

This Free Agent Played 2 Years With New Nationals Manager Blake Butera. Could He Be A Fit in DC?

New Nationals skipper Blake Butera, as noted by many, does not have much professional playing experience, spending just 2 seasons in the minor leagues for the Rays before calling it quits, peaking at the Low A level. Before that, he spent 4 years playing collegiate ball at Boston College, where he was a spark-plug up the middle for the Eagles, posting a .378 on-base percentage and tallying over 200 hits in his collegiate career. Many will criticize Butera’s lack of professional playing experience, but the truth is managers in today’s era of baseball are perfectly capable of pushing all the right buttons without having been the ones on the field, and their more important task is managing all the personalities inside of a clubhouse.

One interesting aspect of having a manager so young is that many of the connections he made along the way in his career are still kicking it in the majors. Take, for example, the Hudson Valley Renegades, the Low A affiliate of the Rays in 2016, where Butera played 4 games, who had 5 future big leaguers on their roster, including Nathaniel Lowe, the former National. The same can be said for the Princeton Rays, one of the Rays’ two rookie teams at the time, who also had 5 former big leaguers who played alongside Butera, the most notable being Josh Lowe and Jesus Sanchez.

The connection I want to look at, however, actually comes from Butera’s college days. Michael King, pitcher for the Padres who will likely be a free agent this offseason, pending his decision on his contract option, played 2 years with Butera at BC, posting a 2.93 and 3.03 ERA in those years, respectively. King has transformed himself throughout his career, going from a starter at Boston College to a reliever with the Yankees, back to a starter again for the Padres after joining them in the second Juan Soto trade. Now at 30 years old, he will finally hit the open market, where he should be a hot commodity, although there are a few arms who may distract the richest ball clubs from pursuing him first, such as Framber Valdez and Dylan Cease.

So could King be enticed to come play under his former college teammate in DC? While it is rather unlikely, as contenders will be lining up for King’s services, it isn’t worth ruling out, as often in the offseason, there are always a few players who end up taking contracts they were not expecting to take at the beginning of winter. Often, these players go into the offseason with unreasonable contract expectations, and when the market will not budge, they have to settle for a short-term, high average annual value contract, putting them in a position to test the market again in a year or two. A recent notable example of this is Blake Snell, who, after winning the NL Cy Young with the Padres in 2023, had to settle for a 2 year, $62 million contract with the Giants, which he opted out of after 1 season and signed with the Dodgers.

So if King finds himself in this position this offseason, where no one is willing to give him the number of years he desires in a deal, there is an opportunity for the Nationals to swoop in and give him one of those short-term deals. For King, the benefit of this type of deal would be that he gets his first real payday, all while getting another chance on the open market the following offseason if he performs to his best level. He can also practically guarantee he will find himself pitching in the postseason as well, as either the Nats make a run and he remains on the club, or the team is out of the playoff race by the trade deadline and King is flipped to a contender for prospects.

For the Nats, the benefit is that they get an ace for a rotation that is in dire need of help, especially if MacKenzie Gore is, in fact, traded this offseason. They also, if they find themself out of contention, have the ability to trade him at the deadline and bolster the farm system some more. While I would not expect the Nationals to be favorites by any means in the Michael King sweepstakes, weird things can happen during the offseason, and Paul Toboni may want to make a signing that announces himself in a big way this winter.

Source: https://www.federalbaseball.com/gen...onals-manager-blake-butera-could-he-be-fit-dc

 

[Washington Nationals]

Blake Butera and the recent history of MLB managers in their 30’s

Paul Toboni and the Washington Nationals made a bold move hiring Blake Butera. At just 33 years old, he will be the youngest manager in over 50 years. Thursday was a big day for Butera, as he not only became a manager, but also became a father. Talk about living the dream.

Even more unbelievable than becoming an MLB manager at 33 years old: Blake Butera became a father yesterday, too.

He and his wife, Caroline, welcomed their first child, Blair Margaux Butera, on Thursday.

— Spencer Nusbaum (@spencernusbaum_) October 31, 2025

The last manager younger than Butera was Frank Quilici back in 1972. With that in mind, I wanted to discuss some managers who got jobs in their mid-30’s and take a look at how they did. It is a mixed bag with some big successes and other guys who were not ready for prime time.

In the early days of baseball, young managers were pretty common. That is because sometimes there were player managers back in the early 1900’s. However, there were also some non-players who got managerial roles at a very young age. For example, the famous Branch Rickey got a managerial job at 31 years old back in 1913.

However, as the game evolved, young managers became less common and the player manager went extinct. In the 1960’s and 1970’s though, there were a lot of young managers, some of whom we will discuss.

The first person I want to talk about is the last manager younger than Butera. That would be Frank Quilici. He got the job as Twins manager at 33 as well. Unfortunately for him, his stint as Twins manager was mediocre. His career record was 280-287, always finishing around .500.

However, Quilici was not the only young manager in that era. There are two Reds managers that could provide hope to Nats fans. The first is Dave Bristol, who got the Reds managerial job in 1966, at 33 years old. Like Butera, he took over a young team. Bristol helped develop young players like Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, Tony Perez and Gary Nolan.

The Reds were winning games with Bristol, including an 89 win season in 1969. However, the Reds were not satisfied with the results and wanted a manager to take them over the top. They went the young route again and hired a 36 year old named Sparky Anderson.

If you are a baseball historian, you know that hiring was a success. Anderson won two World Series titles in Cincinnati with his big red machine teams and became a Hall of Fame manager. It is possible that Butera is a Dave Bristol type figure. A manager who gets the Nats back on track before someone else takes things to the next level. He could also be a Sparky Anderson, but he has a long way to go to accomplish that.

In the modern era, there have also been a few notable managers in their 30’s to get jobs. There have been some hits, but also some misses. One cautionary tale is actually AJ Hinch. Now we know Hinch as one of the best managers in all of baseball. However, that was not always the case.

Hinch got the Diamondbacks managerial job midway through the 2009 season at just 35 years old. He took over for Bob Melvin and led the team to a mediocre 58-75 finish to the season. Hinch got a chance to be the manager going into the season in 2010. However, he was fired midway through the season with his team in last place.

Hinch was not ready for prime time yet. Whether it was the talent on the roster or his lack of experience, he did not work out in Arizona. It would be four years before Hinch managed again. Of course, he took over the Astros job and had a ton of success, even if his tenure was full of controversy. Now Hinch manages the Tigers and is seen as one of the best in the business.

Hinch was not ready right away, but he clearly had the managerial talent. Even if Butera does not work out right away, he could be a massive success if he is given time. Hopefully that is with the Nationals and not somewhere else.

Other young managers include Eric Wedge, who took over a young team in Cleveland in 2003 at 35 years old. Like the Nats, the Indians were starting to lose their way after a long run of success. Wedge got the Indians back to the playoffs and helped build a young core. He had his ups and downs, but had a pretty successful stint in Cleveland.

Kevin Cash is seen as the model manager in many ways. He is immersed in analytics being the Tampa Bay Rays manager. However, he is also great in the locker room and has become empowered over the years. He got the job at 37 years old and has had a ton of success. Cash finished under .500 in his first three seasons, but once he got rolling, he has not looked back. The Rays are consistently competing in one of the toughest divisions in baseball while operating a shoe string budget. A lot of that is thanks to Cash.

A recent young manager is Oliver Marmol of the Cardinals, who got the role at 35 years old. The Cardinals are a club in transition, so the wins have not always been there, but Marmol is not the problem in St. Louis. He seems to be growing into the position as he gets closer to 40. The Cardinals will need to build a more talented roster around him, but there is no indication that he is going anywhere despite the poor results.

As we have laid out, hiring a young manager can go either way. However, most of the time it requires patience. Outside of Sparky Anderson, the wins did not come right away for these managers. Often these young guys come in to manage young teams. The manager grows with the team and they improve together.

This will be no different for Blake Butera. While he got his start managing at just 25 years old, he is still relatively inexperienced. Nats fans will have to give him some grace to start. However, eventually a lot of these guys get things rolling by their second or third season.

The Nationals plan to hire Blake Butera, who will be the youngest MLB manager since 1972.

In 2018, Butera was just 25 when he took the helm for the Hudson Valley Renegades: https://t.co/SknzU1W4oV pic.twitter.com/ZgdlSPgz0x

— Minor League Baseball (@MiLB) October 30, 2025

That is what I think will happen with Butera too. There may not be a ton of wins in year one, but hopefully we will see progress. As Paul Toboni and Butera develop their player development monster, the wins will hopefully start to come by year 2 or 3.

This is a risk, there is no doubt about it. Not all of these young guys have worked. Even the ones that did work eventually took a long time to start rolling. However, when guys are hired this young it is often because they are super impressive and talented. Blake Butera seems to fit that mold. Hopefully he can become the next Sparky Anderson or AJ Hinch.

Source: https://www.federalbaseball.com/was...ake-butera-recent-history-mlb-managers-in-30s

 

[Washington Nationals]

A love letter to my favorite player of all time Max Scherzer

My favorite player of all time is taking the ball tonight for Game 7 of the World Series. That of course is Max Scherzer. I am nervous for him because he obviously is not what he once was at 41 years old. However, he still has that competitive hunger that made him my favorite player a decade ago.

Max Scherzer is one of those players you cannot miss. Between the different colored eyes and his insanely intense demeanor, Max Scherzer sticks out like a sore thumb. Your eyes just are just drawn towards him. Scherzer is everything you want from your ace, and that is something Nationals fans learned quickly.

When Max Scherzer was signed, I was not a child, but I was still young at 14 years old when he threw his first pitch. So Scherzer was not my childhood hero, more like a hero of my adolescence. Mad Max was just an absolute titan. Whenever he took the mound, you knew there was a chance magic could happen.

Whenever he got through two or three innings without a hit, you always thought that this could be one of those special nights. Oftentimes it was a special night, whether it was a double-digit strikeout performance, a complete game, or even a no hitter. There was always magic in the air on Scherzday.

As he takes the mound for what could be the final time, I just wanted to write about some of my favorite Scherzer memories. There are so many and some that I might not even remember off the top of my head. I will go over my favorite moments though.

The one game that epitomized Max Scherzer the most was in 2019 when he pitched with a broken nose. A day before his start, Scherzer was taking batting practice when he bunted a ball directly off his face. He was a bloody mess with a broken nose and an eye that was extremely swollen.

It was a start in the middle of the season for a guy who had won three Cy Young’s in his career. Nobody would blame Max if he had to miss a start or two. After all, he had just broken his nose. Max Scherzer is built different though.

The next day Scherzer gave us a masterpiece. Amped up, Mad Max was throwing harder than normal and giving us some crazy grunts. The swelling around his eye was just jiggling around after every pitch. It was an absolute spectacle and the crowd was loving it.

PHL @ WSH
June 19, 2019

Max Scherzer Ks 10 with a broken nose and black eye pic.twitter.com/InX3zoYgSw

— Paul Toboni Believer (@Nats_HRs) January 4, 2024

Scherzer would throw seven scoreless innings while striking out 10 batters. He led the Nats to a win in a time of the season where they desperately needed them. The Nats were clawing back from their infamous 19-31 start, so they needed every win they could get. Scherzer stepped up and delivered with a battered face. That is just the kind of competitor Mad Max was and still is.

While he is long in the tooth these days, you still see the fire. He gave Blue Jays fans a taste of one of his signature moves in the ALCS. Scherzer was an out away from finishing the 5th inning, when the Jays manager John Schneider came out to the mound. Mad Max was having none of it and ran Schneider off his mound. That moment brought me back to the good old days.

Max Scherzer does NOT want to leave this game. pic.twitter.com/Yip0331WWw

— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 17, 2025

That is one of my favorite things about Max. He is like a predator on the mound and the batters are his prey. When he is really rolling, Scherzer would stalk around the back of the mound when he got outs. As he got deeper into the game, he would stalk further away from the mound. Scherzer just has the best mound presence in MLB history for me.

However, that does not matter much if you are not elite, and boy was Max Scherzer elite. When he signed for mega money with the Nats, it raised a lot of eyebrows. The contract was seen as an overpay at the time. However, Mad Max quickly silenced the doubters.

His first season in DC might be the most memorable one. Scherzer had the best two start run in MLB history against the Brewers and the Pirates. Against Milwaukee, Scherzer flirted with a no-hitter, but came up short, allowing a bloop hit to Carlos Gomez. However, he did fire a 16 strikeout complete game in an absurdly dominant performance.

He out-did himself in his next start though. Against the Pirates, he did pull off a no-hitter. However, it was probably the biggest let down of a no-no ever. Mad Max was one strike away from a perfect game before the gutless Jose Tabata leaned into a pitch that would not have hit him. It was a massive disappointment, seeing how rare perfect games are. Scherzer bounced back and retired the next guy to get his no-no though.

This was not his last no-hitter of the season though. The next one came on the last Scherzday of 2015. It was a let down of a season and the vibes were low. The Nats surprisingly missed the playoffs and the biggest story about the team at the time was the infamous Jonathan Papelbon choking incident.

I remember following this game on my phone at a party. At that party, I was just standing in the corner on my phone watching Max go to work. He was just mowing down Mets hitters. Scherzer struck out 9 Mets in a row.

Good morning, Nats Central

10 years ago today, Max Scherzer threw his second no hitter in the same year against the New York Mets

He had 17 strikeouts in this game pic.twitter.com/FgV1bL7OLS

— Kev (@klwoodjr) October 3, 2025

The only base runner that night came on a Yunel Escobar error. In an absurdly dominant start, Scherzer got his second no-hitter of the season. He really could have had two perfect games if it weren’t for a couple things outside of his control.

The last great Mad Max moment I want to talk about is the 20 strikeout game. While no-hitters are awesome, the 20 strikeout game is even more rare. Scherzer’s master class against the Tigers is actually the most recent one.

This felt different than the no-hitters because the game was on a knife’s edge. Scherzer gave up a couple of his typical solo home runs. The game was 3-2 in the 9th, and we had a real chance of losing. Scherzer actually got his 20th strikeout with one batter left, so he had time to get the record. However, the last batter got an out in play. Even when he makes history, Scherzer was so good he left you thinking he could have done more.

8 years ago today, Max Scherzer tied the MLB record with 20 strikeouts in a game!

(MLB x @NewYorkLife) pic.twitter.com/edFVrTqhYz

— MLB (@MLB) May 11, 2024

All of these moments are why I am rooting so hard for Mad Max tonight. You never want to see your heroes fail and get mocked. He is my favorite player. When I pitched, I wanted to be like Mad Max on the mound. He was the man and I idolized him.

The fastball is not what it used to be and he makes more mistakes, but he still has that fire in the belly. Against an intimidating Dodgers lineup, how far can that moxy take him. Hopefully it is good enough to get the job done. Put on that superman cape one more time Mad Max!

Source: https://www.federalbaseball.com/general/87165/a-love-letter-to-favorite-player-all-time-max-scherzer

 

[Washington Nationals]

An update on Washington Nationals prospects in the Arizona Fall League

It has been a couple weeks since we have caught up on the Arizona Fall League, so I thought it was time to give some updates. The Nationals have actually had a few stand out performers down in Arizona. We have talked about Seaver King, but there are some other players having big impacts.

The first guy I want to talk about is one of my favorite prospects in the organization, Sam Petersen. He was an 8th round pick out of Iowa in 2024. Despite the lesser pedigree, he was the most productive Nat from the 2024 class. He hit .310 with a .905 OPS in 57 games this year. Petersen was sent to the AFL to get more games in because he was injured for a lot of the season.

Petersen has gotten his reps and has been dominant. He is hitting .341 with a 1.083 OPS in 12 AFL games. Petersen is coming off a 4/4 game where he doubled and homered. All this kid has done is hit in his professional career. Right now, MLB Pipeline has him as the 24th ranked Nationals prospect, but I would have him at least 10 spots higher than that.

Halloween homer!

Sam Petersen (WSH No. 24) hits an opposite field home run to give Scottsdale the lead in the third. pic.twitter.com/9o60Z45XRB

— MLB's Arizona Fall League (@MLBazFallLeague) October 31, 2025

If Petersen can stay healthy in 2026, his stock should explode. The Nats have a ton of outfield talent, and Sam Petersen is just the next in that assembly line. He has a very well rounded game with power, speed and contact ability. There is not a whole lot this kid cannot do. I am excited to follow him in 2026.

However, the biggest breakout star of the AFL for the Nats is a more familiar name in Seaver King. The former 10th overall pick had a massively disappointing first full pro season, finishing the year with an OPS of .631. Trey Yesavage, who was picked after him becoming a World Series star, has not helped matters either.

King has done a nice job rebuilding his stock in Arizona though. Like Petersen, King has posted a 1.083 OPS, but he has played 14 games. Seaver King is hitting .377 and leads the league with 24 RBI’s. He is spraying the ball all around the yard and looks like the guy the Nats drafted out of Wake Forest.

Here is that Seaver King Triple from last night… flying. pic.twitter.com/MO7qW60sd8

— Nationals Source (@NationalsSource) October 31, 2025

King still has a lot to prove to come close to justifying his selection. The AFL is a hitter friendly league, but it is still nice to see him mashing. He will need to do it in real Minor League games, but it is nice to see him hitting. Hopefully he can have a bounce back year in 2026.

On the pitching side of things, the star of the show has been Jake Bennett. He was the best pitching prospect the Nats sent, and he has shown why. Do not be fooled by his 5.40 ERA, Bennett has thrown the ball well.

He has struck out 22 batters and has only walked four in Arizona. A lack of strikeout stuff was a question mark for Bennett this year, but he has shown it in Arizona. Bennett has a deep arsenal of pitches that he commands well. His fastball sits at 93-95 MPH and he has a really good changeup to go with it. Bennett can also land a variety of decent breaking balls.

Another name I'm watching at AFL is Nationals starter Jake Bennett. The 6'6" lefty has shown off some serious swing and miss stuff over 2 starts, striking out 13 in 8 innings and generating 11 whiffs of 27 swings.

More at https://t.co/XOZ1TPZhQg pic.twitter.com/WOEGllk0h2

— Prospect Savant (@ProspectSavant) October 16, 2025

The Nats will have to make a decision on whether they want to protect Bennett from the Rule 5 draft. Despite not pitching above AA, he should obviously be protected. He is close to big league ready and would be claimed if he went unprotected. If he stays healthy, I am pretty confident that Bennett will be throwing in the MLB next season.

Another notable name in the AFL is Nats second round pick from 2025 Ethan Petry. He is actually the only 2025 draftee in the league. Petry has held his own, with an OPS around .800. However, a lot of that has come from him taking a ton of walks.

The Nats big guns have had a successful stint in Arizona. That is nice to see after a shaky year on the farm. Improving this farm will be a big priority for Paul Toboni. He has set out to create a scouting and player development monster. That starts in the Minor Leagues.

Source: https://www.federalbaseball.com/was...on-nationals-prospects-in-arizona-fall-league