Wednesday night’s news that the Nationals are hiring Anirudh Kilambi as general manager surely caught a number of people by surprise. President of baseball operations Paul Toboni said as recently as last month he didn’t expect to add a GM to his front office yet, seemingly content with the organizational flow chart that had come together since his hiring in late-September.

But then came word of the hiring of Kilambi, a 31-year-old data guru who spent the last decade working for the Rays and Phillies and now gets his highest-profile job to date as one of the youngest GMs in major league history.

It might leave you a bit confused. Fortunately, we’re here to answer some of the questions you likely have right now. If nothing else, consider this a placeholder until we get a chance to interview both Toboni and Kilambi later this week …

Q: So, Anirudh Kilambi is actually Mike Rizzo’s replacement?
A: Only in title. And even then, it’s only in partial title. Though he typically was referred to as the Nats’ general manager, Rizzo officially was president of baseball operations and general manager. In short, he was the guy in charge of the entire front office, and he chose not to promote or hire someone to be the GM beneath him, preferring to employ several assistant GMs and several special assistants to the GM.

Q: So, what is Kilambi’s role compared to Toboni’s role?
A: Toboni is the guy in charge. He makes the final decision on free agent signings, trades, etc. Kilambi will serve as his right-hand man, with an emphasis on all matters related to analytics, data and technology. That’s his background with Tampa Bay and Philadelphia, and he was widely regarded throughout baseball as a top young mind in that area, especially the job he did helping to acquire and develop lesser-known pitchers into quality big leaguers during his seven years with the Rays.

Though he didn’t literally know Blake Butera before, Paul Toboni felt like he already knew all about the young man he just hired to be Nationals manager, long before either was employed by the franchise.

During Toboni’s 10 years working in the Red Sox front office, Butera’s name came up a number of times. They had overlapping circles of baseball friends. They came from similar backgrounds. Toboni even vaguely remembers scouting Butera when the latter played at Boston College, despite the fact they’re only separated by two years in age.

So when it came time to assemble a list of candidates for the Nats’ open managerial position, Toboni knew he wanted to meet with Butera. And once they did meet on multiple occasions, the 35-year-old president of baseball operations jumped at the opportunity to hire the 33-year-old rookie skipper.

“I really went into this process having an understanding of what I thought it was going to be like, but didn’t honestly know until I really hopped into it,” Toboni said today during a video conference with reporters. “I’m really fortunate that we did reach out to interview him, because he blew me away throughout the process.”

Butera, who worked for the Rays as a minor league manager and front office executive, was hired by the Nationals last week. He won’t be formally introduced for a couple more weeks, because he and his wife just welcomed their first child into the family on the same day he signed his contract.