What Does Success Look Like for the Nationals in 2026?

Starting in 2026, a new era of baseball is coming to the nation’s capital with a whole new regime to lead the way. Following another disappointing season under Mike Rizzo and Davey Martinez, the Washington Nationals made significant organizational changes from top to bottom.

The team hired 35-year-old Paul Toboni as the President of Baseball Operations and 31-year-old Anirudh Kilambi as the General Manager. The former spent the last 10 years with the Boston Red Sox, while the latter spent the last four years with the Philadelphia Phillies, each spending time as an Assistant General Manager.

With a young front office now in place, the team continued with the theme, hiring the youngest manager the league has seen since the 70s, Blake Butera. The 33-year-old spent two seasons in the minors with the Rays before becoming a minor league manager in 2018. He most recently spent time as the Tampa Bay Rays’ Director of Player Development.

The combination of the three leading from the top makes for one of the youngest front offices and team leadership groups across the league. With an already young team to go along with the front office, the youth movement is truly taking over the district.

Even with all the future excitement, it probably won’t all come together in the first year. With the team in full rebuild mode, a successful 2026 season may look different than wins and making the playoffs for the Nationals.

Today, we look at a couple of different things that need to happen for the 2026 season to be deemed a success and a positive step towards the future for the Nationals.

Improvements In Their Future Superstar

James Wood, one of the big pieces from the Juan Soto trade, is the potential superstar around whom the Nationals will look to build.

Wood had a generally positive and exciting first full season in the bigs, but his numbers fell off a bit towards the end of his 2025 campaign.

The 23-year-old recorded a .915 OPS and smashed 24 home runs in the first half of last year, earning the titles of All-Star and Home Run Derby contestant, but he ended up with a .690 OPS and just seven blasts in the second half of the season.

Even with the teeter-off, his full-season slash line ended at .256/.350/.475 with an .825 OPS and a 127 wRC+, making for a solid season.

The final couple months kind of left a sour taste in the mouth of the fans, but the flashes of a true superstar were there.

Despite showing his elite power already, Wood’s high strikeout numbers have been a significant criticism throughout his early career.

Last season, Wood led the league with 221 strikeouts, almost breaking Mark Reynolds’s infamous all-time season record of 223 punchouts in 2009. Wood struck out at a 32.1% rate last year, up 3% from his first sample of the bigs in 2024.

The most important thing for Wood is staying consistent and making more contact. He has shown the ability to be a potential generational talent with his effortless all-fields power, and putting it together could elevate him to another tier.

Seeing Wood fully blossom into superstar status, like many people believe he will, is an incredibly important part of the Nationals’ success in the upcoming season, as well as in the future as the potential cornerstone of the franchise.

Develop Offensive Pieces

The team is full of young players who have just begun to get their first big league action, and it’s key to see some steady improvements this season. While an obvious point to make, it’s important that the team develops its young pieces and begins to identify a solid core around Wood.

The first and most obvious player to highlight is former second-overall pick Dylan Crews. The 23-year-old is widely considered one of the next stars to lead alongside Wood.

After posting solid numbers in limited minor league time, Crews was quickly elevated and made his MLB debut just one year after his final college season.

Crews has had a bit of a rough start to his career, but he has still only appeared in 116 total games since debuting in 2024. Across his first two seasons in Washington, Crews has a .208 career batting average with a .631 OPS and a 77 wRC+.

In 2025, he missed nearly three months after suffering an oblique injury in May, and it really derailed any progress for him. This upcoming season is big for Crews and his development, as he will look to have his first full and healthy year in the majors in 2026.

Another prospect to highlight would be former Seattle Mariners backstop-of-the-future, Harry Ford.

Ford is one of the many new faces to join the organization this winter, being acquired in a deal with Seattle for lefty reliever Jose A. Ferrer. Undoubtedly, the 23-year-old will play a significant role as one of the Nationals’ backstops this season.

Ford made his major league debut for the Mariners last year, but he only stepped to the plate eight times and collected one hit. In the minor leagues last season, he put up one of his best years to date, recording a .283/.408/.460 slash line with an .868 OPS across 97 games in Triple-A.

Giving Ford a bigger opportunity in the majors will help his new team see if he can be the starting catcher for years to come.

Another couple of names to watch for the Nationals would be outfielder Daylen Lile and Infielder Brady House.

Lile broke onto the scene for the Nationals last season, posting a .299 batting average with an .815 OPS and a 132 wRC+ in his first season. The 23-year-old tied the franchise record for triples in a single season, roping 11 three-baggers while appearing in just 91 games.

The speedy outfielder is certainly going to be fighting for a starting spot among a crowded, but young, outfield group.

House is another prospect who saw his first big league action last season. The 22-year-old recorded a .234 batting average and a .574 OPS in 73 games last year.

While not having as successful of a first year as Lile, House is a former top prospect in the organization with the traits to succeed at the big league level. He will likely be the starting third baseman this season, so having the opportunity to play every day could help his development.

Improve the Pitching All-Around

Last season, the Nationals had some of the worst overall pitching statistics in the league. The major league pitching staff posted the second-worst team ERA at 5.35 and the second-highest opponent batting average at a near .270 clip.

When you take a look at their minor league affiliate statistics, they aren’t much different, especially at the level closest to the majors. The team’s Triple-A affiliate posted the worst team ERA in the International League and the fourth worst overall.

During the offseason, the team also traded away their ace, MacKenzie Gore, to the Texas Rangers. With a pitching staff that already struggled last year, trading away one of the best pitchers in the organization probably wont help those numbers.

However, this decision genuinely reflects the team’s commitment to rebuilding and improving its future.

As it pertains to minor league reinforcements, the organization is a bit shallow and young when it comes to pitching. Most of the major pitching prospects are in Double-A or lower, with only Luis Perales having any experience in Triple-A or above.

Perales was acquired from the Red Sox in exchange for lefty Jake Bennett in December.

The Nationals’ top pitching prospect, 21-year-old Travis Sykora, will miss the entire 2026 season after undergoing Tommy John Surgery last July. Their second-best pitching prospect, 21-year-old flamethrower Jarlin Susana, will also begin the season on the injured list after right lat surgery during the offseason.

While the Nationals may have limited minor league options, new pitching coach Simon Matthews will look to improve the pitchers already on the big league roster. The 30-year-old was a former minor league pitcher and also spent last season as the Cincinnati Reds’ assistant pitching coach.

The new assistant pitching coach will be former National reliever Sean Doolittle. The 11-year former big leaguer was an instrumental part of the team’s World Series bullpen in 2019 and has been a pitching strategist for the team since 2024.

The team has also invested heavily into new coaching and technology at every single level of their minors, adding several positions, including an assistant pitching coach at every level.

An intriguing aspect of many of their new hires is their prior experience, with several new hires coming from popular performance facilities, such as Driveline Baseball.

These types of player-focused performance factories have become famous for their blend of advanced metrics and technology to help improve certain aspects of players’ games.

Both Matthews and Doolittle have each spent time at Driveline in some capacity.

While new data continues to take over the modern game, hires from typically nontraditional origins like these pitching factories have started to become the norm.

After some negative numbers all around in the pitching department, the Nationals are clearly committed to improving their pitching programs and development overall, from the Majors all the way to the DSL.

The Toboni-led regime has a clear focus on utilizing modern analytics more effectively than the past front office. Seeing the investments throughout the minor leagues pay off would be a strong indicator that the organization is heading in the right direction.