Washington (AFP) – The Washington Nationals named 33-year-old Blake Butera as their new manager on Friday, making him Major League Baseball’s youngest manager since 1972. Butera, formerly Tampa Bay’s senior director of player development, took the post about two months older than Frank Quilici, who was 27 days beyond his 33rd birthday when he became manager of the Minnesota Twins some 53 years ago.
“I’ve always believed that you win with people and from our very first conversation it was clear that Blake is the right person and the right leader for this role,” Nationals president of baseball operations Paul Toboni said in a statement. “Blake comes into this position with experience in a variety of roles in player development, including as a successful manager, making him uniquely qualified to get the most out of the players in the clubhouse and help us reach the next level.”
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Of the players on the Nationals’ 40-man roster, only 33-year-old pitcher Trevor Williams is older than Butera. The Nationals won the 2019 World Series but have not reached the playoffs or managed a winning season since, going 66-96 in this year’s campaign. Manager Dave Martinez was fired in July and replaced on an interim basis by bench coach Miguel Cairo while Mike Rizzo was fired in July as president and general manager and replaced by assistant general manager Mike DeBartolo until Toboni was hired on October 1.
Butera won two developmental league crowns while in the Tampa Bay organization before being promoted to the Rays. “I am incredibly honored to be named the manager of the Washington Nationals,” Butera said in a statement. “This franchise has a proud history, a passionate fan base and a standard of excellence that I deeply respect.”
Butera and his wife Caroline welcomed their first child on Thursday. Butera was a bench coach for Italy, a quarter-finalist in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, and coached the Perth Heat in 2019 in the Australian Baseball League and Dominican club Leones del Escogido in 2020.
© 2024 AFP
