Washington Nationals Add Grant Anders and Desmond McGowan in Player Development and Scouting Shakeup

The Washington Nationals continue to shape their player development and scouting infrastructure this offseason, adding two new names to the organization. According to the Washington Post, the Nationals planning on hiring Grant Anders as a Major League development coach and bullpen catcher and according to Joe Doyle of Over-Slot the Nationals are planning on hiring Desmond McGowan to lead their scouting department, another significant move aimed at strengthening the club’s long-term talent base. McGowan arrives from the New York Mets, where he spent five seasons and played a key role in building out the organization’s draft model.

Grant Anders joins the Washington Nationals after spending the past two seasons on the Baltimore Orioles’ big league staff in a similar development-focused role.

His move comes on the heels of coaching changes in Baltimore under new manager Craig Albernaz, which opened the door for Anders to remain in the Beltway but with a new organization. Anders originally joined the Orioles in November 2019 and spent several seasons as a development coach in the minor leagues before being promoted to the Major League staff ahead of the 2024 season.

Anders’ background is rooted in modern player development, blending on-field coaching with data-driven feedback for pitchers and catchers. His experience working within a progressive Orioles system should mesh well with the Nationals’ ongoing efforts to modernize their pitching development pipeline.

As a bullpen catcher who also serves as a development coach, Anders will have daily touchpoints with the Major League staff, offering feedback on game preparation, side sessions, and pitch design work. For a club still nurturing a young pitching core, that extra layer of communication and support can be valuable across a 162-game season.

On the amateur side, the Nationals are hiring Desmond McGowan to lead their scouting department, another significant move aimed at strengthening the club’s long-term talent base. McGowan arrives from the New York Mets, where he spent five seasons and played a key role in building out the organization’s draft model.

Within industry circles, McGowan is regarded as a forward-thinking voice in amateur evaluation, blending traditional scouting looks with advanced data and modeling. His work has centered on refining how teams identify and prioritize players, particularly in the draft room where process and collaboration can make the difference between hitting and missing on key picks.

McGowan’s reputation is built on clear communication and alignment between the scouting staff and the analytics group during draft preparations. That ability to translate on-the-ground scouting reports into actionable information within a model-driven framework has drawn praise from peers around the league.

For the Nationals, McGowan’s approach should help tighten the connection between what scouts see, what the numbers say, and how the front office ultimately stacks its draft board. As Washington continues its organizational reset, improving the hit rate on amateur talent is essential, and McGowan’s process-driven leadership is expected to be a central piece of that effort.

Together, the hires of Anders and McGowan signal a continued push by the Nationals to modernize both player development at the Major League level and talent acquisition on the amateur side. Strengthening these two areas in tandem is critical for a franchise looking to build sustainable success through a deeper, more efficient pipeline of pitching and position-player talent.