Yesterday was a fun and exciting day for Paul Toboni and his family, as he was officially introduced as the Nationals’ new president of baseball operations. But now that the hands have been shaken and pictures taken, his real work to rebuild the organization in his likeness begins.

How does Toboni, the 35-year-old executive who quickly rose from a baseball operations intern to the senior vice president and assistant general manager with the Red Sox, envision doing that?

“I’m stepping into this role with a clear vision, and that vision is to be the highest performing organization in all of sports,” he said Wednesday. “I want to help build something that becomes the envy of all of sports. Where we get X amount of months and years down the line and people are looking at this organization like, ‘Shoot, I want to be part of that organization.’ We have a lot of work to do. That’s OK. We’re going to embrace it. While it’s going to be challenging, it’s going to be really rewarding when we get to where we want to go.”

Toboni has a lot on his plate as he starts this job. He has to fill out his front office, including making decisions on people he wants to retain and those he wants to replace. He has to hire a new manager and coaching staff, a process of which he gave very little insight to. And he has to evaluate all the players in the organization, from the major league roster all the way down to rookie ball.

That final process he did offer a lot of thoughts about.

“I think more than anything, we have some young, exciting players,” Toboni said. “I've been in touch with a number of them to date, and they're fun to watch. And I've told many of them, while I haven't had the chance to reach out to everyone, I've told many of them, and I really believe it, I think there's another gear to tap into with many of them. So it's not just that they're already really talented players. It's that it's easy for me to see a world a year or two down the line where we're seeing a different caliber player in a good way.”

That probably is one of the biggest questions on fans’ minds: How do the Nationals get better, more consistent results from their budding stars?

The Nats had young All-Stars drop off in production in the second half of this season. James Wood, MacKenzie Gore and CJ Abrams were all selected to the Midsummer Classic in the past two seasons, but they all struggled over the second half of this year.

The Nats also had former top prospects struggle to find consistency at the major league level, like Dylan Crews, Robert Hassell III and Brady House. And while Daylen Lile was a bright spot over his 91 big league games, he alone can’t bring the Nationals back to contention for the postseason.

Yet, Toboni sees all of those guys as young players he wants to build around.

“I probably see a lot of the same players that you see. And you've honestly watched a lot more Nats games than I have, probably,” he said. “So yeah, I think about James, I think about Daylen, I think about Dylan, MacKenzie, CJ. So many of these guys have such great skill sets. And now it's up to me to hopefully place the support around them where we can tap into another gear for them. But at the same time, it's up to them to hold themselves accountable and hold each other accountable to reach each of their own potentials. So that's how I think through it. And when I text them that or when I tell them that, I really mean it. I think there's another gear in all those players' games, and we're excited to bring it out.”

Toboni brings his own unique skill set to help identify, acquire and develop talent, no matter what level they play. He received a bachelor’s degree in political economics at the University of California Berkeley, where he played baseball, and he earned a Master of Business Administration with a specialization in finance and analytics from Notre Dame.

Sounds like a very smart guy who likes numbers. But he also fell back on his playing days with the Golden Bears when he started in the Red Sox’s scouting department as an area scout. That led to this rare combination of viewing the game through a traditional scout’s eye and an analytical lens.

“I'll put my hand up: I'm a huge believer in analytics,” he said. “I'm also a strong, strong advocate and believe in the power of area scouting. And I believe in the power of great coaching. So what we want to do is have folks that have mutual respect for both, but also, they understand how their responsibilities contribute to the greater goals of the department. And then we can clearly outline what's expected of everyone in their roles. And then it's up to them to really get after it and do a great job. I think that's the main thing.

“I've been around a lot of coaches that are very technically sound, but don't quite understand the art of coaching and they're not as effective influencing players. And I've been around coaches that really get the art of coaching, but are behind technically and they're not as good as they can be impacting players. So ideally, we are outfitted in our group with scouts, coaches, whoever it might be with both of those traits. They really get how to connect with players and build trust and those types of things. But also, they're really well versed technically on how to get players better. And once players start to see that, ‘Wow, this coach is really getting me better and I'm getting the feedback and I'm getting better,’ it just creates this cascading buy-in where they're realizing that they are becoming the best versions of themselves.”

Toboni and the Nationals have a long road ahead. But getting this young core to be the best versions of themselves is a good place to start. And the more this “scouting and player development monster,” as the new president of baseball ops called it, hits on players, the closer the Nats will be to playing in October again.

“The more we can do that over and over and over again,” Toboni said, “I think the word will get out around the league amongst the players that the Washington Nationals is a place where I want to be because I know I'm going to develop most as a player there.”