After a 2025 offseason in which the Washington Nationals overhauled a ton of different things and processes within their organization, the club is back at it again. They hired President of Baseball Operations Paul Toboni to change the infrastructure at all levels, and he has now added another piece to his arsenal of brilliant minds.
Nationals poach new international scouting director from Astros
The Nationals continue to overhaul the organization's internal workings with another staffing change. This time, it's the acquisition of director of international scouting Brian Rodgers from the Houston Astros. The Athletic Nationals beat writer Spencer Nusbaum and Astros beat writer Chandler Rome were first with the news.
It's been a turbulent decade for Nationals international scouting. After Johnny DiPuglia took over in 2009, effectively starting from scratch having to clean up the complete mess Jim Bowden left the organization, they saw eventual success with talents like Juan Soto, Víctor Robles (though briefly), and Luis García Jr. That largely dried up later in the 2010s, with the team spending $3.9 million on Yasel Antuna, who crashed out of pro ball in 2023 after failing to produce at any level, in 2017.
In the 2019-20 signing period, the club gave out four bonuses of $600,000 or more to Andry Lara, Pablo Aldonis, Roismar Quintana, and Dawry Martinez. Only Lara ever made it to the big leagues, and while he's still on the 40-man roster, it's hard to imagine he'll maintain that status through 2027 without hitting outright waivers; his brief 9-game relief stint in 2025 was underwhelming, and he's got a 110 ERA- and 102 FIP- (where 100 is average and lower is better) at Rochester this year. Aldonis is still active but hasn't made it past Advanced-A as a 24-year-old. Quintana also never made it past Advanced-A before being released last year, and Martinez never even made it stateside before being cut from the org in 2023.
Other touted international signings since then have been equally underwhelming. Armando Cruz, given $3.9 million in 2021, never hit, and was cut as a 21-year-old last year. The next year, they gave Cristhian Vaquero $4.9 million, and he hasn't progressed past Advanced-A. He's got an 83 wRC+ in the lower minors this year. Nobody in the 2023 class has made any kind of splash in the system either. DiPuglia resigned in September of that year (though he joined the Royals four months later), beginning another period of internal turmoil in the team's international personnel department.
Fausto Severino was promoted from his longtime role as director of Latin American scouting to the international ops director for 2024. While 2024 is recent enough that it's hard to declare the top signing "busts," nobody from that signing class is in MLB Pipeline's Nationals top 30 prospect ranking. Neither Angel Feliz nor Victor Hurtado, the two seven-figure acquisitions, are in FanGraphs' top 45 for the organization. The club did not renew Severino's contract at year's end.
Victor Rodriguez took over as the director of international operations in 2025, overseeing a class that produced Marconi German. That was the only real acquisition that remains of note prior to Mike Rizzo's exit from the organization. Rodriguez remained in that role for the 2026 signing period, however, inking Samil Serrano, who ranked as MLB Pipeline's 26th overall international prospect. He's now the 16th-ranked player in the team's farm system.
Rodriguez will no longer serve in that role going forward, but will remain in the organization, Nusbaum and Rome's piece reports. A period from 2018 to 2024 of almost zero future major league talent being produced severely stunted the Nationals' lower minors, and new director Brian Rodgers is tasked with helping the organization continue to transform itself under the Toboni- and Kilambi-led regime. Rodgers had been Houston's international operations director since 2024, and his top signing of the 2025 international class, Kevin Alvarez, is the club's top-ranked prospect and sits at 77th overall on Pipeline's top 100.
It's one of many top-level changes being made in the Washington organization. Long-tenured director of medical services Harvey Sharman did not have his contract renewed for the 2027 season, Mark Zuckerman reported earlier this month. General manager Ani Kilambi told Nusbaum last week that the team intends to greatly expand its research & development department this offseason as well. It's certainly a new era of Nationals baseball. On this side of things, however, it's likely going to be a few years before we can measure any level of meaningful change.
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