Over the course of this offseason, the Washington Nationals have been very hard at work in creating positive change within the organization. Everyone who followed the team for a long time knew that operations had gone stale within the walls of the organization, and the way the club operated for a long time ended up costing a lot of people their jobs over the past few months.
Of course, former manager Dave Martinez and former General Manager Mike Rizzo were the first 2 to be let go, but they were far from the only ones, as the Nationals are currently in the midst of replacing their entire coaching staff from last season. New manager Blake Butera and new President of Baseball Operations Paul Toboni have been hard at working building out a new and improved coaching staff for 2026 and beyond, and we are now beginning to see who else is joining the fold beside them.
A slew of hires were announced within the last week, as Bobby Wilson will be helping out with the catchers while 30-year-old Simon Mathews will be the team's new pitching coach. The team is still waiting to see who the new hitting coach will be, but it's safe to say that Toboni and Butera are hard at work assembling a staff full of new ideologies needed to help modernize the players and organization to the current age.
However, one interesting nugget that came from Butera's introductory press conference earlier this week alongside Toboni was that a familiar face from last season is set to return to the coaching staff. While we do not know in what capacity yet, Butera mentioned that he has spoken to over 20 players since taking the new role, and every single pitcher he spoke with brought up how impactful Sean Doolittle had been on their careers without being prompted, according to Andrew Golden of the Washington Post.
Doolittle served as a pitching strategist last season under Jim Hickey, the previous pitching coach, and while Doolittle's new role is still yet to be determined, it is clear that the pitchers already in the organization have enjoyed working with him a lot. This doesn't really come as any shock at all, as Doolittle was always known as a guy who was great to be around throughout his playing days, so the fact that many guys spoke so highly of him after being coached up by him is also no surprise.
What do you think of Sean Doolittle coming back in 2026? As always, please let me know on X, @DCBerk.