On Tuesday afternoon, the Nationals held their first Spring Training press conference in West Palm Beach, featuring new manager Blake Butera and president of baseball operations Paul Toboni, one day before pitchers and catchers formally report. The pair fielded questions from reporters about the challenges ahead while offering fresh insight into what they expect as a new era of baseball in Washington begins.
“Now that we’re here in West Palm and in front of the players, in front of the staff, it’s finally feeling real,” Butera said. “I’m excited, ready to get this thing rolling, and really thankful to all the mentors and people I’ve had along the way that have led me to this role here.”
Of course, who will lead the clubhouse was one of the most common questions for Nationals fans this past offseason. Butera is the youngest manager that MLB has seen in more than 50 years, and the majority of his coaching staff is experiencing this for the first time alongside him as well. Beyond that, Washington also currently carries the second youngest roster in the league, and Trevor Williams, one of just four players who is 30 or older, will open the season on the 60-Day IL.
“A big part of culture for me and just my view of leadership and team culture and winning atmosphere,” Butera said. “It’s a player-led clubhouse, so you need some player leaders to step up and kind of be that voice and set the tone.” He would also soon add “I don’t think we want to tap anybody specifically today who should be the leader and kind of put them in charge… I think it’ll kind of happen organically.”
With all the factors that this new group has faced, such as spending most of the winter going through the hiring process for a fully revamped baseball operations department, it became increasingly difficult to also build a 2026 contender. In the last year before what will surely be a controversial CBA negotiation, and when there is no clarity about what the sport will look like after this season, the focus quickly became a sustainable future. To Toboni, that all begins with having the right people in the organization.
“There has to be an openness and a willingness to become a better version of yourself, whether you’re a coach, an athletic trainer, or whatever it might be,” Toboni said. “I think we’ve done a lot of work to get where we want to go, but there’s still work to be done.”
Because 2026 is being considered a set-up season, it is fair for fans to want to know a benchmark for success. Every team has one, but it becomes less clear for teams that undergo a full reset. Starting with the basics, the Nationals believe that it is important for a young team who doesn’t need to win immediately to learn how to be resilient.
“When you play 162 games plus spring training, there are going to be a lot of ups and downs throughout the season,” Butera said. “The biggest thing is just the consistency of being the same person day in and day out and understanding this is a really hard game.”
As if the full fresh start wasn’t enough, the Nationals also have to strategize for new rule changes introduced this upcoming season. The biggest change will be the ABS challenge system, allowing teams two challenges for calls of balls and strikes. If a player wins the challenge, their team retains it. However, a failure could prove costly, so teams will spend the spring preparing for a major shift in how the game is played.
“We actually met with Major League Baseball this morning on the [ABS] topic,” Toboni said. “Blake and I met for a little bit after in terms of how we are deploying it as a team. Obviously not everyone has reported yet, we haven’t had our first team meeting and all that, but we do have a sense in how we can use it to our greatest benefit. And so we’re going to continue to put more thought towards that and then hopefully just get everyone on board — pitchers and position players — on how we can best deploy it.”
Ultimately, this season will look very different to Nationals fans when compared to any of the last 15. The one that follows it will almost certainly make this year pale in comparison as well. Regardless of how fans feel about the sport, the team, and everything that comes with that, today’s conference further showcased the team has a clear plan moving forward.
“I’m not going to sit up here and tell you what this season’s going to look like from a wins and losses standpoint,” Butera said. “But what I will tell you is that our staff is going to be very prepared and very detailed and motivated to get every player in this clubhouse better and become the best version of themselves.”
Be sure to stay tuned to The Nats Report for all upcoming Spring Training coverage.