As significant as Blake Butera’s hiring was – and, let’s be clear, it’s incredibly significant – there has been just as much interest in learning who will fill out the new Nationals manager’s coaching staff.

Given Butera’s almost unprecedented youth (at 33, he’s the youngest major league manager since 1972) and lack of experience (he never played, coached nor managed above Single-A), conventional wisdom said he would look to surround himself with older, more experienced coaches.

That’s partially the case so far, but not entirely the case.

The Nats are still in the process of hiring several more staff members, so we don’t know what the full makeup will look like yet. But while Butera has hired a more experienced bench coach in 50-year-old Michael Johns, his pitching coach (Simon Mathews) is actually only 30. And while the other three known members of the staff (Bobby Wilson, Sean Doolittle, Tyler Smarslok) all have some big league coaching experience, their ages range between 33 and 42.

“I don’t think we really set out to either hire for or not for experience,” Butera said. “I think what was first and foremost was that we wanted to bring in people who align with our values. We wanted people that would help hold each other accountable, come in with a tremendous amount of work ethic and make sure they were in this thing for the right reasons.”

Johns worked alongside Butera in the Rays organization for nine years, both of them managing minor league affiliates as well as holding wider-ranging positions that oversaw multiple affiliates. Johns then went on to become Tampa Bay’s first base coach in 2024, giving him MLB experience that Butera lacks.

Mathews, meanwhile, is even younger than his rookie manager and likewise never played in the big leagues. The 30-year-old, though, comes to D.C. with an intriguing resume that includes a stint as one of the best pitchers in Georgetown University history, time designing throwing programs for two noted pitching labs, then professional experience with four seasons coaching the Reds’ farm system before joining Cincinnati as assistant pitching coach last year.

Butera’s eyes lit up Monday when asked about Mathews, who in addition to everything else is bilingual and speaks fluent Spanish.

“He’s incredible,” the young manager said. “Just going through the interview process with Simon, he blew me away right off the jump. Obviously, he was in the big leagues last year with the Reds. Terry Francona was his manager. I talked to Terry a handful of times about Simon. He couldn’t say one bad thing about him, said he’s one of the best pitching coaches he’s been around, even at just 30 years of age.”

The other hirings haven’t been officially announced yet, though president of baseball operations Paul Toboni revealed Monday that Doolittle will return in a to-be-determined role, the first holdover from Davey Martinez’s old staff. The 39-year-old former closer has valuable institutional knowledge, not to mention an ability to translate analytics to pitchers in a way they can easily digest the information.

Wilson has the most big league coaching experience of anyone so far on the staff, with five seasons as the Rangers’ catching coordinator, including serving on Bruce Bochy’s World Series-winning staff in 2023. The 42-year-old former MLB catcher comes with a strong reputation for developing elite defensive catchers, making him especially attractive to a Nationals organization that needs real improvement in that department.

Smarlosk, whose hiring as major league field coordinator was reported Tuesday by the Washington Post, spent this season as the Marlins’ first base coach, in charge of both baserunning and infield defense. Only 33, he never played professionally but won rave reviews for his work coaching the Twins’ Triple-A affiliate in St. Paul and also got a chance to manage in the Arizona Fall League last year.

Butera and Toboni still have several more decisions to make. They need a first base coach, a third base coach, a hitting coach (Chris Johnson, the assistant hitting coach under Darnell Coles the last two seasons, is a candidate) and a bullpen coach (unless Doolittle ends up with that title).

So we don’t know yet if there are more experienced coaches still to come, or if the Nationals’ 2026 staff is going to be filled with young coaches who – like their young manager – will be learning on the job how to elevate a young roster into a better team.

“At the end of the day, our job is to help these players get better and create something that’s sustainable for a really long time and is successful,” Butera said. “Regardless of age, I think that was most important to me when we were building out a staff: To make sure there are people in here who are going to help our players reach their ultimate potential.”