A year ago today, the trajectory of the Washington Nationals changed drastically. Manager Davey Martinez and President of Baseball Operations Mike Rizzo were fired on July 6th, 2025. The duo had led the Nats to a World Series title in 2019, but in the midst of a disappointing season, it was clear that they were no longer the right men to lead the franchise forward.
After the World Series in 2019, the Nats quickly aged out of contention, and the lack of depth on the farm meant that there were no replacements. In 2021, Mike Rizzo decided to sell off veteran pieces and lead the franchise into a rebuild. With a World Series ring only a couple years prior, Rizzo and Martinez were allowed to lead the Nats into this new era.
In 2022, the reality of the rebuild set in. This would be an even longer process than expected. That meant 23 year old future Hall of Famer Juan Soto had to be traded. The move was a painful one, but it turned out to be the best decision Mike Rizzo made in the rebuild. He got three cornerstone pieces in James Wood, CJ Abrams and MacKenzie Gore.
However, Rizzo’s lack of success in the draft and Martinez’s archaic coaching staff meant the fruits of that trade could not be fully realized. By 2025, the Nats were stuck. They had nice pieces, but there was a clear disconnect between the coaching staff and the players, and the roster was far too top heavy. With the Nats sitting at 37-53, the Lerner family made the big decision to fire Rizzo and Martinez.
A year later, that decision is looking very wise. Right now, the Nats are above .500 with a 46-45 record. Under Paul Toboni and Blake Butera, the organization has quickly modernized and embraced analytics in a way that they had not in the past. A big story this spring was how much new technology the Nats had. Between the trajekt machine, weighted bats and more, the Nats were finally embracing 2020’s baseball.
As you can see with the record, this new approach is paying immediate dividends. The Nats did not improve their record by going out and signing big name free agents. In fact, the Nats barely spent any money at all. Toboni’s three biggest free agent signings were Miles Mikolas, Zack Littell and Foster Griffin.
The Nats biggest offseason move was actually to sell one of their core pieces away. After an offseason of speculation, MacKenzie Gore was shipped off to Texas for a five prospect haul. So far, that move is looking good, with Devin Fitz-Gerald becoming a top 100 prospect, and Gore failing to take the next step.
I am not going to sit here and say that Toboni’s trade history has been perfect. He has made a few moves that look dicey right now, such as the Harry Ford for Jose A. Ferrer swap and the Jake Bennett for Luis Perales deal. Toboni has also struggled to build a competent bullpen, much like Mike Rizzo had for the past few seasons.
However, it would be difficult to argue that the Toboni impact has been negative. He has made good moves like the Gore deal, the Foster Griffin signing and the Curtis Mead trade. His biggest impact though has been putting a development system in place that is helping improve players on the roster.
Right now, the Nationals have scored the most runs in all of baseball. Just about every player on the offensive side of the ball has improved. Already productive players like James Wood and CJ Abrams have taken the next step. However, the biggest success stories have been among guys who had previously been written off.
I thought I knew who Luis Garcia Jr. was. My perception of him has changed drastically in the past month though. He is swinging the bat harder, hitting the ball harder and hitting it in the air more often. That has led to an insane hot streak where he has 10 homers in his last 15 games. Garcia has already set a career high with 19 home runs.
Keibert Ruiz’s turnaround is a great example of what a new coaching staff can do. His career looked to be dead and buried after last season. He was awful on both sides of the ball, and had injury issues. Ruiz’s long term contract looked like an absolute albatross. With the help of catching coach Bobby Wilson and the rest of the Nats staff, Ruiz is having a career year.
He is hitting .285 with a .788 OPS while playing well above average defense. Despite not producing the last couple years, we knew that Ruiz had some offensive upside. The defensive turnaround has been nothing short of miraculous and the changes happened seemingly overnight. That is great work by the new coaching staff, but also a real indictment on the old staff.
By the end of his tenure with the Nats, Davey Martinez seemed stubborn and standoffish. He would rather go down with the ship than make any changes to his coaching staff. That stubbornness came to a head during his famous “never on coaching” rant.
A year after his firing, it sure seems like coaching does matter. Players like Ruiz, Garcia and Mead have been totally unlocked by this coaching staff. There is still room to grow, but for the first time in a while, you can really see coaches making players better. That is what they are here to do after all.
Blake Butera embodies the development first mentality that the Nats have. This should not come as a shock given the fact that the 33 year old worked in player development for the Rays prior to taking this job. He has given some great quotes about the importance of pre-game work and about how players are still not finished products when they get to the big leagues. This coaching staff is trying to make every player better, even grizzled veterans like Miles Mikolas.
The dedication to improving players is my favorite part of this new regime, and it is the biggest change. They are clearly working very hard to make these guys better, and they are seeing the fruits of their labor.
This is not just happening on the major league side either. We have seen some big breakouts on the farm as well. Seaver King had a disastrous first pro season, but after going in the lab with the new braintrust, he looks like a different player. He is hitting the ball harder, chasing less and whiffing less.
A year after the firings of Mike Rizzo and Davey Martinez, the Nationals are in a much better position. Sure, a lot of the main pieces contributing to this team were brought in by the old regime, but it is the new regime that is unlocking them.
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