Blake Butera, famed for managing within the Rays minor league system to great success at a very young age, has been poached by the Washington Nationals to be their new manager at just 33-years old.
Butera’s
most recent role with the Tampa Bay Rays was as the senior director of player development, a position he held starting in October 2023 and continuing through the 2025 season. In this front-office role, he oversaw the organization’s entire player development process across its minor league system. He had transitioned to a front office position ahead of the 2022 season as an Assistant Field Coordinator, which provided Butera with touchpoints across the minor league system while still allowing him to coach.
More famously, Butera was a minor league manager for four seasons (2018–2019 with the Hudson Valley Renegades and 2021–2022 with the Charleston RiverDogs, where he led the latter to back-to-back league titles). He began managing at age 25 and was first in his division each season. Butera has also worked as a quality-control coach for Leones del Escogido in the Dominican Winter League as well as bench coach for Team Italy in the 2023 World Baseball Classic.
Now, he is finalizing a move to become the Washington Nationals’ manager—the youngest in MLB in over 50 years. The Nationals are run by Paul Toboni, who is 35 years old.
