Mike DeBartolo has an interim tag beside his GM title with the Washington Nationals. It sure feels like he’s the guy going forward.
“Simply stepping up our game is not enough, and we need real change. I’m excited to bring a fresh approach, a fresh voice, to this role and integrate more data, more technology, more innovation into our decision-making across the organization at all levels, and hopefully improve the performance of our players as well,” DeBartolo told reporters in a gaggle in the Nats dugout before the first game of a three-game series in St. Louis on Tuesday.
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The Ivy League MBA is a contrast in styles to his predecessor, Mike Rizzo, who had been the general manager for 17 years before getting the axe last week.
Rizzo was a baseball guy – he got to High-A in the California Angels organization before going back to school, serving as an assistant coach at Illinois, then getting his first MLB scouting job with the Chicago White Sox, and working his way into front-office jobs from there.
DeBartolo got into baseball as an intern with the Nationals organization in 2012, after graduating from Tufts in 2006, where he did baseball analytics work for the baseball program, and then working in consulting and research jobs before trying the MLB thing.
Rizzo was the GM who made the no-doubt choices of Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper with back-to-back 1/1 draft picks in 2009 and 2010, and oversaw an organization that made five playoff appearances and won one World Series between 2012-2019.
The teardown of that core group began in 2021, and though Rizzo has been able to put together a nice group of young players in the rebuild, the team on the field has sputtered – ranking third in MLB in losses since the 2019 championship season (trailing only Colorado and Pittsburgh).
A big issue has been the lack of modern infrastructure – with glaring deficiencies in scouting, particularly international scouting, and analytics.
This would seem to be in DeBartolo’s wheelhouse.
“Coming from an analytics background and building up that department, I’m excited to try to leverage some of that throughout the organization,” DeBartolo told reporters on Tuesday in St. Louis. “We have a lot of great information, and I think there are ways it can be integrated more into all of our processes. I’d like to lead to that transition and integrate that even further.
“Just taking the position two days ago, I think there’s a lot more of an ability to use data and technology and innovation at every single level – decision-making, as part of the player development process, as part of the medical process. So, I’m going to bring that philosophy and approach to the role. But it’s too early to single out one specific area.”
The focus in the here and now is on two things – first, the 2025 MLB Draft, which begins on Sunday, with the Nats, for the first time since 2010, holding the first overall pick, and then the trade deadline coming up at the end of the month, which will give DeBartolo a chance to flip some of his expiring contracts for minor-league prospects.
It makes sense that the guy making these calls in the next couple of weeks will be the architect of the organization going forward.
“With the draft and the trade deadline, the two most important decisions and events we have in front of us, that’s my job to make those decisions,” DeBartolo said.
“The amateur scouting leadership has been working for a year to prepare for this,” he said. “I’ve been in the loop and following as well, and have my own opinions and work collaboratively with them. They’ve been working hard for this moment, almost even before the last draft ended. I’ll bring my own voice to that process, take what they have to say and ultimately be responsible for making the picks.”
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Chris Graham
