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While acknowledging there’s much work to be done, and while making a point to focus on long-term over short-term success, new Nationals president of baseball operations Paul Toboni has also gone out of his way to praise the talent already in place and salivate at the possibility of immediate, significant improvement.
“I’ve told many of them, and I really believe it: I think there’s another gear to tap into with many of them,” Toboni said in his introductory press conference, a refrain he has repeated multiple times since.
Anirudh Kilambi offered a similar sentiment in his formal introduction Friday as the Nats’ new general manager, referencing some sage wisdom he received from his former boss in Philadelphia (a man who has taken four different franchises to the World Series during his career).
“One of the things Dave Dombrowski mentioned to me over the last few years, as he has onboarded to multiple organizations and done really well, is that they’re always really good people and really good players, even in organizations that haven’t had the most success recently. And that’s something I took with me as really great advice. There are going to be superstars wherever you go, and you need to be in a position to help them grow, whether that’s on the field or off.”
The Nationals, as currently constructed, need help. There’s no debating that. They need a reliable starting pitcher. They need to fill a gaping hole at first base. They need several experienced relievers.
But it’s worth remembering from time to time that there still are a good number of pieces in place. Unproven pieces, yes. But unproven pieces who have real potential to, as Toboni keeps putting it, tap into another gear.
James Wood is the best player on the team, a 23-year-old budding superstar who just hit 31 homers while driving in 94 runs in his first full big league season. And anyone who watched him throughout the season knows he isn’t yet close to realizing his full potential.
Through 81 team games, Wood was on pace for 44 homers, 126 RBIs and a .926 OPS. He slumped big-time after that. Had he only managed average production in the second half, he’d have reached 40 homers and 100 RBIs with ease.
CJ Abrams, likewise, enjoyed a fantastic first half (.287/.353/.483, nine errors) and a miserable second half (.217/.266/.368, 13 errors). That mirrored his 2024 season, in which he made his first All-Star team but wound up demoted in late-September for disciplinary reasons.
Still only 25, does Abrams have six months of top-notch production and respectable defense in him? You’d certainly like to believe it.
Dylan Crews’ first 116 major league games have been disappointing, no question. He owns a weak slash line of .211/.282/.352. Where Wood showed off his electric skills from the day he debuted, his fellow much-hyped outfield prospect has yet to show his own over any real length of time.
But is anyone ready to give up on the 23-year-old who just 2 1/2 years ago was named the nation’s top amateur player while leading LSU to a national championship? Not likely. There’s a reason Crews would’ve been the clear-cut No. 1 pick in the Draft if not for his college teammate Paul Skenes. Elite potential must still be in there somewhere.
On the pitching side, MacKenzie Gore looked like one of the best young starters in the game from April to July. He made his first All-Star appearance after posting a 3.02 ERA, 1.196 WHIP and 11.3 strikeouts per nine innings. Then he, like too many of his teammates, slumped in the second half and finished with an ERA well north of 4.00.
The 26-year-old may wind up getting traded this winter, but doesn’t he still have a real chance at further developing into a major league ace? Lefties with an upper-90s fastball, devastating curveball and an elite strikeout rate are highly coveted by any franchise. If the Nats retain him, he may just put it all together here instead of somewhere else.
Speaking of elite stuff, Cade Cavalli’s rivals any other starting pitcher in baseball. We finally got to see glimpses of it when he made his long-awaited return from Tommy John surgery in August. Now that he’s 100 percent healthy, the 26-year-old has a real opportunity to establish himself over a full season and form a potent 1-2 punch with Gore atop the Nationals’ rotation.
Those are the big names, the blue chips who have the potential to blossom into stars. There’s also a group of promising young players whose ceiling may not be quite as high but who have shown enough already to suggest they could be quality big leaguers for years to come.
Daylen Lile was a revelation in the first 91 games of his major league career. Brad Lord showed a lot while bouncing back and forth between the rotation and bullpen. Cole Henry and Clayton Beeter look like high-leverage relievers who just need some more experience.
And then there are even younger possibilities, former first round picks and top-100 prospects who have minimal-to-no big league experience but are probably going to get a whole lot of opportunities in 2026: Brady House, Harry Ford, Luis Perales. Maybe they’ll all break out in the coming year. Maybe one or two will. Maybe none will. But each undeniably has the potential to do it.
It’s of course not just on these players to take the next step in their development, but on a brand-new coaching staff to help get the most out of them and a brand-new front office to help identify their strengths and weaknesses. We have no idea yet how successful the people now in charge of the Nationals will be, but we’re about to find out if they can do what their predecessors could not.
Does any of this mean the Nats are well-positioned to win big in 2026? No. So many things would have to go right for that to happen, and there would have to be several more additions of real consequence this winter to bolster the current roster.
But the cupboard isn’t completely bare. As Toboni and Kilambi have noted, they are inheriting a talented, young team with plenty of intriguing pieces.
Their task now? Elevate those pieces to the next level.
