The shakeup in the Washington Nationals front office has begun. Scouting director Danny Haas has left the organization to take a role with the Baltimore Orioles. Under 2 months after taking Eli Willits with the 1st overall pick, the man running the scouting department has left his post.
This is big news because Haas was one of the more influential figures in the Nats front office. He joined the organization after the 2023 season. His hiring was meant to shakeup the Nationals draft philosophy after years of poor results.
Haas’ tenure was a mixed bag. The 2024 draft has looked shaky to say the least so far, but there is time for all of those guys to turn it around. In that 2024 draft, Haas surprised everyone by taking Seaver King with the 10th overall pick. This was an underslot deal that allowed the Nats to spend big on Luke Dickerson in the second round.
So far neither player has lived up to expectations. King has a .614 OPS across two levels in his first full season of pro ball. Despite being a top 10 pick a year ago, he is nowhere near the top 100 list.
Dickerson has also struggled pretty significantly. He is hitting .202 with a .635 OPS for the season. With his youth, there is still time for Dickerson, but he has not gotten off to the kind of start the Nationals were anticipating.
The early returns on the 2025 draft have been much better though. While a lot of the high schoolers he selected have not debuted yet, the guys who have played have been solid. Ethan Petry has been productive in Low-A and top pick Eli Willits is dominating despite being just 17.
This is a very interesting announcement though. Haas seemed like part of the new wave of the Nats front office. A guy who was not part of that Rizzo old guard. However, he is not going to return next year.
What I am curious about is what this means for Mike DeBartolo. You would think this means that ownership is more willing to totally blow up this front office. That is just my reading of the situation.
The next couple months will be such a pivotal time in the front office. Ownership will have to decide if Mike DeBartolo is their guy moving forward. If they decide to move on, they will have to conduct their first GM search since they hired Mike Rizzo over 15 years ago now.
This is just the first domino of many to come. Nailing the front office hires are the most important thing for the Lerner’s this offseason. Even more than spending money, the Nats need to have the right people in place. Now we know that the Nationals will be getting a new scouting director.
