The Washington Nationals have a new head honcho and his name is Paul Toboni. Yesterday, multiple reports came out that the Nationals are hiring the 35 year old Red Sox Assistant General Manager to be their head of baseball operations. Naturally, Nats fans want to know more about their new kingpin, so I dove in.
First, let’s start with the basics. After playing college baseball at Cal Berkeley, where he played with guys like Marcus Semien and Mark Cahna, Toboni got an MBA at Notre Dame. From grad school, he got a baseball operations internship with the Boston Red Sox in 2015.
His rise from that point was meteoric. After that internship, Toboni became an area scout. Many people have to grind as an area scout for many years before getting promoted, but not Toboni. He was promoted to assistant director of amateur scouting after only one year. Toboni did that for three years before getting promoted again, this time to director of amateur scouting.
This run as director of amateur scouting and later as Vice President of amateur scouting and playing development is very important to the conversation because it was a huge success. In that time, Toboni drafted players such as Roman Anthony, Marcelo Mayer, Connely Early, Kristian Campbell and Kyle Teel. All of those guys have really popped and have either become parts of the Red Sox young core or used as key trade pieces.
With the Nationals struggles in the draft, this track record of success had to have appealed to the Lerner family. As would his youth and vigor. At just 35 years old, he is a very different look to Mike Rizzo, who is now in his 60’s. That youth makes him more exposed to new ideas and the new wave of baseball analytics.
While Toboni comes from a scouting background, he values analytics heavily and integrates them into his process. Toboni has also spoken at length about how drafting and player development need to be merged in a lot of ways. You need to draft a player with an idea of how to make them better. Over the last few years, this is something the Nationals have not been able to do.
Toboni is very well regarded around the industry. Lance Brozdowski, who is very plugged in, got some quotes from people who worked with Toboni. They gushed about him and the people saw him as an elite up and coming mind.
Over the last day, I have listened to a number of interviews Toboni has done over the years and had a few takeaways. First, he is a very well spoken and put together figure. He has a charisma and freshness to him that will endear him to the fanbase. There was a video I watched where he was interviewed by Joe Doyle, where he spoke about his player evaluation process. He came across as a brilliant guy.
One thing he repeatedly touches on is how drafting and player development are integrated. He clearly thinks about how each player will fit in the organization. One thing he talked about that really interested me was ‘developable traits’.
The idea is that there are some areas that are easier to develop for certain players. An example of this that he spoke about was how the Red Sox developed Kristian Campbell from a slap hitting leadoff man to a player with much more power. Toboni and the Red Sox saw how Campbell moved and the athleticism he had and thought they could build on what he already had.
Campbell made a ton of contact and had good plate discipline in college, but did not have much power. However, the Red Sox thought that could come in their player development system. In his last year of college, Campbell only hit four homers, but in his first year in the Minors, he hit 20. That is the kind of stuff Toboni can bring to the Nats.
Coming from a scouting background, Toboni knows the value of seeing players up close. He talked a lot about how he loves to be on the scouting trail and talking to the players and families. However, he integrates that with a new school vision. Toboni is not just accepting of analytics, he pushes the envelope and tries to be on the cutting edge.
When Nationals fans hear him talk, they will fall in love. Funnily enough, Toboni mentioned CJ Abrams in one of his interviews. However, he used Abrams as an example to make a larger point.
While the Red Sox did not draft Abrams, Toboni saw him a lot because Abrams was at all the showcase events. Toboni’s point was that seeing a player perform over and over is very important. If Toboni saw Abrams teammate and he was just as good or better for one viewing, you still can’t put him above Abrams because CJ showed he could dominate the competition for years.
Sometimes in the past, the Nats would go for the shiny new toy with late helium over a guy with a longer track record. An example of that was the 2024 draft, where they took Seaver King and Luke Dickerson, two players with shorter track records. Based on this interview, that kind of stuff will not happen with Toboni.
On the personal side, Toboni is married and seems to have a genuine interest in social issues such as prison reform. At just 35, Toboni is now the main man for an MLB team. There are only 30 of these gigs. Toboni getting one of them at such a young age shows how impressive of a character he is.
For 2026, the record on the big league field may not improve too much. However, I think Toboni is going to help the farm system greatly. There are going to be breakout performers next year that will flourish once Toboni gets his hands on them.
Nationals fans have been begging for better drafting and developing. Clearly the Lerner family has been listening to those cries because Toboni will make the Nats so much better at that. Drafting and developing is Paul Toboni’s bread and butter. He is a new school guy with an appreciation for old school scouting. There is plenty of time for things to go wrong, but I am optimistic about Paul Toboni.