MLB’s Youngest Manager Blake Butera Arrives In DC, His Vision For The Team + Being A New Dad

MLB’s Youngest Manager Blake Butera Arrives In DC, His Vision For The Team + Being A New Dad

the constant theme from the whole group was like we have more in the tank. Like we we need some uh like we need to we need to go like we need some help getting to the next the next level, the next gear. Um and then obviously the transparency which I’ve shared with all of them. I was like there’s going to be days you’re not going to like me but I promise you you’re always going to know where you stand in our eyes and it’s not fair to let you go through 162 game season and not know what you need to get better at. What’s up everybody? Welcome back to the 11th inning podcast with KCO and Zim. Dan Koko, Ryan Zimmerman, back again after a lengthy hiatus. Yeah, it’s been a long one. I I’m kind of nervous. I feel like I’m doing episode one again. Starting from I don’t remember how we how we do this, what to do with my hands. Yeah, it’s all new. So, I’m going to talk and then I’m going to like tee you up and then you’ll talk. So, got it. Right back to how we were doing. I just follow your lead and you’re the professional. So, in air quotes. Yeah. Um, welcome back everybody. It has been a little bit of a break, but uh, we’ve got some exciting stuff to come on the podcast today. On our last podcast, Ryan, we had a one-on-one or a twoon-one sitdown with the Nationals new president of baseball operations, Paul Taboni. And today we are recording this right ahead of the next big press conference uh for the Nationals this off season to introduce their new manager Blake Buta and we’re going to have Blake join us on the podcast as well. So um a lot of big things going on with this Nats organization and exciting to get to spend some time with these guys, get to know them, let our fans get to know them and so we’ll bring you that interview in a little bit. But before we get to all that uh just quick catch how you been? I I’ve seen you handful of times over uh the last month, month and a half. Everybody good going into the holidays here? Everyone’s good. Yeah. I feel like once you get to Halloween, you blink and then it’s like the first week of January. Yeah. Cuz Halloween obviously everyone loves Halloween. It’s fun. And then it’s like then you’re ready for Thanksgiving. Well, everyone forgets about Thanksgiving, which I don’t think I I know I’m getting I know that I’m getting old because Thanksgiving is now like my favorite holiday. Oh, it’s always been mine, you know. And it’s ridiculous. You go to the mall or you go to like there’s Christmas decorations. People just completely skip over. Poor Thanksgiving. It’s my favorite holiday. All you do is hang with people, eat good food, have some good drinks, watch some good football. Usually there’s like a family golf outing sprinkled in there, even if it’s freezing cold. But like that’s my favorite. We’ll go down to my parents on Tuesday and come home Saturday. So we’re down there and I my brother comes. I get to see some of my good buddies from home. All of our kids hang out. It’s kind of the calm before the Mariah Carey music December screaming around the house. That’s just you though, not the kids or Heather. It’s you singing the Mariah Carey around the house. Yeah, you know it is. That’s a good go-to karaoke song. That’s a You better be a good singer if you’re picking Mariah Carey. Good vocal range. But anyway, yeah, it’s a fun time in our house. Obviously, Halloween kicks it off and the uh the holiday craziness has begun. Yeah, it’s a fun time of year and uh as we said, some big moves for this Nationals organization. And with that in mind, Dan, what do you got this week? What do you got this month? Yeah, I mean, obviously we interviewed Paul, we’re going to interview Blake today. And um you know, what do I got? I got a lot of changes. And changes I think are uncomfortable sometimes, you know, especially when you’re changing from kind of the people that we had here that first of all, we’re very successful. Second of all, we’re all great people and been here for a long, long time. So, I think it’s always hard, you know, that everyone always says, you know, you rip the band-aid off. You just have to, if you’re going to do it, you have to go for it. And I think it’s exactly what Paul has done. Um, and you know, I obviously had great relationships with a lot of the people that aren’t coming back or were asked to not come back, and that’s always tough, but I’m really excited about all the things that he’s done. And I think, you know, everyone’s going to use the word unconventional or, you know, these guys are so young or but I think he he thinks about a lot of the things like Paul is very he thinks about things like everyone’s going to say, “Oh, he’s 33 years old.” Well, I mean, he’s managed in the Rays organization. He’s managed in the Australian League. He’s managed in the Dominican League. He was the bench coach. Yeah, the bench coach for Mike Mike Piaza and team Italy. So, I think everyone needs to like stop looking at the age and just look at the type of person and the leader that he is. And the more people that Paul has brought in, has hired, you know, I think the main theme is leadership qualities, you know, positive outlook, positive energy, and most importantly, like empowering people to do their job and giving them some freedom to go out and do what they’re supposed to do. And with that comes responsibilities. And Paul has always said, “Listen, I’m gonna challenge you to do things, but I’m always gonna give you, you know, the best chance to succeed.” And I’m just excited to see sort of that new young energy, this new ability to go out and, hey, this is your job. You go do it. And you know, I don’t want to say it was time for a mixup or it was time for this or it was time for that cuz that, you know, we were very successful and we had some good obviously some really good times, but you know, every now and then you do need a big mixup and you know, it’s tough. You know, you create relationships. You have good friends. I had good friends. You know, a lot of those friends are the same people that aren’t going to be back. And, you know, you wish them the best and I’m sure they’ll they’ll find, you know, success wherever they go. But um you know, as tough as that is, I think I’m very excited, first of all, to meet a lot of these new people and just see what they do with the direction of the organization. Yeah, I I totally agree with you. I think both things can be true. I think that you can um be sad and feel badly for people that have been here for a long time and are not going to be a part of these things going forward. We’re also a part of the success and they deserve credit and I think a lot of them got credit for it. Yeah. I I mean, I’m I’m not going to go down the the list of names because there’s there’s a lot of names uh that that are no longer with us, but you know, we’re thinking of the same people, you and I, when we talk about these uh these sorts of things. And you do, you’re around long enough, you develop personal relationships, and then you have the success to go along with that. And it kind of like amplifies it, right? It becomes uh the feelings become exponentially higher. Um, but you can feel that while also feeling like nothing is permanent, nothing goes on forever. And things at times do need to change and change can be a really healthy thing. I think even for people that maybe had something happen to them professionally that they weren’t expecting or weren’t hoping for. Change can be a good thing that you look back on years down the road and say, you know, it it put me in a better spot or it challenged me or it forced me to pivot somehow or whatever it might be. Um, but organizationally I I think change can be a good thing. And um I I think when we you and I have had countless conversations about uh some of these hires and the direction that things are going and you’ve heard a word that you’ve expressed to me and it’s the same word that I’ve heard from other people around baseball in regards to a lot of these guys that have been brought in. Stud. Yeah. that these human beings, these baseball people are studs. They’re they’re smart. They are talented. They are good people. And I think you combine those qualities and it has people around here that that have gotten to know some of these people or are maybe in the process of getting to know them very excited about the direction of this organization. And um it’s in-house here. It’s outside of the NATS organization. Like I’ve had people text me and say, you know, some of these front office guys are really good and you you’ve had similar things on your end. So I’ve talked to a lot of people in baseball that I know like you said and you know when organizations are upset that they’re losing people, it it’s it’s good for you. And one thing you said like smart and a lot of people I’ve talked to are like listen these guys are some of the smartest people I’ve met in the game but more importantly they don’t act like they’re the smartest people in the room. So I think baseball went through just like everything in life, baseball swings and the pendulum and you know we went crazy analytic to the point where like and I’m saying this as a player like a lot of these people who had never played the sport in their life, had no idea how had been in a clubhouse, how it works to play baseball every day were making incredibly important decisions. And it was like the be all from this kid who went to an Ivy League school and didn’t play sports plus kickball in elementary school. And nothing against that person. They were given that responsibility by that person can bring value of course 100%. And I think what we’ve learned is like yes that val that the information the analytics are important but you also have to consider there’s human beings playing the sport. So, I think we’re coming back from that a little bit. And I think Paul, Blake, a lot of the people Paul brought in are the perfect hybrid of these guys are super smart, but they also have some type of experience in sport, which which is important cuz we play a sport. So, I think we’re coming back to the middle a little bit on that. And we’re getting some of the best people in that hybrid class. And I’m just super excited to see how they kind of go about their business. One more thing, too, that I’ll mention. I I think we’ve got a a young organization, right, in terms of players, in terms of talent that that we’re talking about here. I think there’s something to teaming up the young talent on the field with young talent in the front office, in in the managerial role that can be exciting for everyone involved and for fans. I think that’s something that people can get behind and you know with youth comes maybe some inexperience or comes maybe a lack of of some other qualities but um I I think that whether it’s energy whether it’s willingness to embrace some ideas uh whether it’s being able to relate to these guys culturally inside the dugout or inside the clubhouse I think that there are benefits there as well. So, um, an exciting time, a different time certainly, but change can be good, change can be healthy. Yeah, I think it’s great. I think I’m excit We’re obviously excited. I think the fans should be excited. I think it’ll be a uh a good fresh start and people should embrace it. So, that’s what I got. Obviously, that was a long one, but you know, what do you got for me? I I’ll be a little quicker. I just um I got momentum in the sport of baseball. Yeah. coming out of a playoffs and a World Series that was so incredibly entertaining. And I’ll say this coming from a little bit of a different perspective. I wasn’t able to watch the World Series every single game. I was in Japan for a couple weeks. Uh 13 hour time difference, but uh just set your alarm, man. Yeah. Yeah. Everyone was up watching show anyway. You should I’m sure there was parties places you Ally and I went to a bar at 10:00 in the morning to watch game five of the World Series. That sounds actually really fun. It really was. And they were I mean do they like show Otani over there? I don’t know. I don’t think they’re aware of him. Um that guy is Elvis. Every single company in Japan, I’m convinced sponsors show. We got off the plane in Haneda airport. His face was the first that we saw on a Hugo Boss advertisement. We got onto the plane at the end of the trip and it was the last face that we saw as we were boarding on a different company’s advertisement. He’s everywhere. He’s on soda machines. He’s It’s crazy. But him, Yamamoto, um Suzaki, yeah, they were all in on the Dodgers over there and there were, you know, people watching on the the trains and all that. But just broadly, um I think people are loving baseball right now and it’s just an exciting thing to be around and I I hope that this is something that the sport can continue to to build upon and to grow obviously coming out of the next season that the expiration of the the CBA is looming and we don’t have to get into all of that, but I I just it was so exciting to watch and that that game seven was incredible. the 18 inning game that preceded it in the World Series and our boy Max in there starting two games in the World Series, making some some big appearances, starting game seven at 41 years old and being a madman like we know that he is. It was just really cool and and again, I hope that this is something that can be built upon and that this momentum can continue. Well, I think the changes that have been made, although a lot of people were kind of hesitant about them in the beginning have made a huge difference and the numbers show it. I mean, baseball is the most highly rated it’s been in decades. And you know, six or seven years ago, we were in a interesting spot in baseball. And now we’re shooting shooting up. And you know, like you said, we could talk about this on a different one, but like we have so much positive momentum. You know, you’re talking about maybe adding two teams. You’re talking about like really cool fun stuff. Playoff, you know, restructure, put like things that are fans are excited about. So, not figuring whatever this is out by the end of next year, I think would be awful for the sport of baseball. And we can talk about that another time, but I think what you said is correct. Like baseball is finally kind of cool again. It went through a tough stretch. Great young players. The speed of the game is up. I think the pendulum is swinging back to like putting the ball in play, stealing bases, playing defense, not just hitting a homer, walking or striking out. Yeah. The number of plays at the plate in that World Series alone, like it’s exciting stuff. The game is is getting back to where it needs to be. So hopefully we can keep that positive momentum going. But yeah, the World I mean seven game World Series, extra innings twice, just a truly exciting World Series, which sometimes doesn’t happen. So fun to watch. Um, great time to be a baseball fan. You and I talked about this when we went to the Commanders game, but the ratings compared to in game seven of the World Series this year, compared to the game seven in the NBA Finals, baseball dwarfed the the NBA. And you know, there might be people out there that want to parse that and say that the Dodgers uh internationally or that, you know, the Dodgers are a factor in that or that I I don’t know. But regardless, there were a lot of eyeballs on the sport at its highest level. The players delivered uh in terms of level of performance and yeah, it was just cool. And Max being Max. Max just doing Max things. Yep. Awesome. All right. Stay with us here on the 11th inning podcast. When we come back, we will welcome in the new manager of your Washington Nationals, Blake Butra. Welcome back to the 11th inning podcast with Colen Zim, Dan Kulko, Ryan Zimmerman. Joined now by the Nationals newest manager, the eighth manager in Washington Nationals team history, Blake Buta. Blake, welcome. Congratulations and welcome to DC and Nationals Park. Thank you. Excited to be here. Appreciate it, guys. So, uh, a lot’s been going on in your life the last few weeks, man. Uh, you have your first child. Congratulations on that. Uh, like what, a day days before the the deal got signed. Take us through the Yeah. Yeah. Um, yeah. You know, it was funny. It was um I think it was that day or that afternoon we were talking on the phone. we were um and my wife um we she was a couple days past the due date so she’s on the list to get induced and the hospital finally called uh when I was on the phone with Zim and my wife’s like hey we got to go to the hospital and I’m like wait I’m on the phone hang on it’s Ryan Zimmerman yeah no yeah but it’s funny like yeah he’s like I think we have a room so I was like okay go see you later like Um, but that’s awesome. It seems like everything went well and yeah. Um, like Dan said, quite quite the uh quite the day for you there. It was. It was quite the day. Uh, best day of our life with daughter and uh obviously the job and yeah, everyone’s healthy and doing well and couldn’t have asked for a better day. So, you’ve accomplished a lot in your baseball career in a relatively short time span. You’re 33 years old. Um, if I had told you a couple years ago that you would be sitting here today getting ready to be introduced as a major league manager, do you think you would have believed that or has this, you know, rise maybe even surprised you a little bit? Yeah, I mean I, you know, be naive to say that I expected to be in this position by any means at this age. Like I I just um, you know, I enjoyed what I was doing. I I just felt like I put my head down and got to work and kind of let the rest take care of itself and um didn’t really have a a timeline of when I expected to to get here, if I ever expected to get here. But um just fortunate to be here when I am and ready to get to work. I think everyone focuses on age and you know it doesn’t matter if you’re 33, 43, whatever. Like you said, he’s done a lot. You managed in the Rays organization, you managed in Australia, you’ve managed in the Dominican, you were Mike Piaza’s bench coach for the World Baseball Classic. So, you know, I think so many people focus on, oh, he’s so young. He’s that like this guy’s done a lot and there’s no prerequisite to be man. I mean, Alex Kora, Aaron Boon, Kurt Suzuki. Yeah. I mean, they were on baseball tonight or doing TV and just got plucked to do the Yankees and the Red Sox manag managers. So, I don’t really think it matters how old you are or what you’ve done. It’s more can you lead men on a day-to-day basis. And you know what he’s done, I mean, when you did manage for Tampa, I don’t know, did pretty good. Um, so I don’t think it really matters what you’ve done or what age you are. It’s more are you ready to do the day-to-day duties and be a leader? And managing is so much about leading personalities now. And you know, he can obviously talk about it, but it’s the team that works together to create lineups, to create rosters, to give those guys the best chance to win. And then he’s just going to make sure that the guys are happy, play hard, and do the right thing. So, I just hope people don’t like focus on age and experience and all this and it’s just a matter of being able to lead and being able to be the same guy every day. And I’ve only talked to him a little bit before his kid was born. But, uh, but yeah, I mean, he seems like a person that you thrive in those situations. Like, you like being around people, you like to, you know, to lead, but more importantly to just empower those people to to do it on their own, I guess, is the best way to put it. I don’t know. talk about what you learned in the Rays organization. I mean, you managed, but then you did player development. You you you’ve kind of done a whole kind of like Paul, you’ve done a lot of different things in a short time in baseball. Yeah, for sure. No, I think you nailed it. Um I think a big part of managing, especially today, is is managing personalities, you know, getting the most out of every every person in the building, you know, players, staff members. Um, you know, I think everybody loves to talk about the X’s and O’s during the game, but that’s such a small portion of what it is when you’re playing 162 games plus spring training, plus the postseason. Um, yeah, and I’m extremely fortunate to be in an organization like the Rays where they’ve put a lot on my plate at a young age and also supported the heck out of me and helped me kind of learn and grow along the way. And they weren’t afraid to say, “Hey, go get them.” And kind of learn as you go and make mistakes and learn from those mistakes. and just continue to build off of that. So, as as Ryan mentioned, you had the managerial experience in the Rays system. The last couple years though, you did move over to the player development side. What did you learn in those couple years? And how do you think that experience positions you to be in this role now and and maybe attack this role a little bit differently than some managers might? Yeah, I think there were a ton of things that I learned in that role. Um, I will say that was by far the hardest job I’d had. um why there’s a lot of people right in an organization um you’re talking about 100 plus staff members of all ages, backgrounds, um history and then obviously 180 players state side plus the 85 more in Dominican Academy and um you’re overseeing all of that, right? And then you’re also in constant communication with our front office with Eric and and and the rest of the group and learning how we’re navigating trades and free agent discussions and waiver claims and things like that to understand kind of how the whole infrastructure comes together in terms of building a team, building an organization, building a staff from the ground up. Um, I think just getting that perspective was something where, you know, you manage, you’re overseeing your your own club for for a year, but then when you’re in the position I was in the last couple years, fortunately, um, I was able to kind of get the global view of how everything comes together. So, you think now in a managerial role, you’ll obviously be working very closely with Paul and with his assistance in terms of roster construction and pickups and things like that, options. Do you feel like that kind of opened maybe not opened your eyes but gave you experience in that sort of overall cohesiveness that is required within an organization? Yeah, 100%. I think just to get a glimpse of what it looks like and how all the things that go on be behind the scenes work um helps a lot. but also in the position I was in the last couple years, like there’s a lot of tough conversations you have to have with players um of all of all history and ages. And um you know, a big part of it is you you’re talking to guys that are you know are are experienced players that have a lot of time in the big leagues that are in AAA now, right? And you’re trying to tell them like, “Hey, this is what your future looks like here.” And kind of lay things out for them. And sometimes they they don’t like to hear it. Um, but at the end of the day, as long as you’re transparent with these guys and and you you make sure they understand where they where they are in in your eyes, um, I think that’s all that they want and they ask for. Um, so having some understanding how to navigate those conversations and have those tough conversations is something that that, you know, we sometimes overlook as well. Well, I think at the end of the day, grown grown-ups appreciate honesty. It might be tough, but I always said like at the end of my career when I wasn’t playing every day, I appreciated them saying, “Hey, man, like it’s you can do this or you can kind of go home.” And it’s nobody wants to hear that. But then the last couple years, I had the some of the best times of my life because I knew what my role was. People were honest with me and the communication was good. And I think, you know, you being in that role, I think taught you, like you said, those hard conversations, but how important communication and transparency is. And with the roster you’re about to have, there’s some young guys that, and Paul said this the other day, I forget where he was talking, but he was like, you know, yeah, we’re really excited about the young guys that we have. And you have a guy like James Wood who’s done some stuff, C.J. Abrams, and he goes this, the thing that I want to tell them is like they’re just scratching the surface. And you know, you need to get them to that next level even. And I think having someone like Blake who’s done all that and had those conversations like these guys want someone to push them and you know, another thing you said about the Rays is they they weren’t afraid to say, “Hey, go get them.” And they put some big decision, some big responsibilities on your plate. But you also said that they empowered you and put you in a spot to succeed. And you know, I think with our roster, like, hey, let’s put some expectations on these kids now. Like, hey, you’ve had for Jane, you know, he struggled a little bit in the second half, but had a great first half. Like, hey, this year, let’s try and be more consistent. Let’s, you know, your job as a manager and Paul’s job as GM or president, whatever you want to say, is get the best out of every player that you have. And sometimes that involves maybe putting them in an uncomfortable position, not being afraid to have that conversation with them. So I think his role, obviously the manager role in Tampa, but this other role might be more beneficial than people think and having those tough conversations and trying to get the most out of every player on on the roster, whether it’s James or CJ or Dylan or, you know, maybe a guy that goes up and down from TripleA. being able to talk to each individual person about their role in getting the most out of them. But it’s, you know, it’s it’s going to be fun. It’s going to be hard. It’s I think he’s he’s ready to rock, man. When it comes to those conversations, do you feel like you’ve developed a style and approach to relating to people regardless of what their background might be or their experience in the game might be? Like, how how do you go into those sort of conversations? Yeah. I mean, first of all, I think you you have to have some empathy, right? Like, it’s it’s not easy. Um, there’s a lot of pressures outside of the clubhouse for a lot of these guys. Um, whether it be families or agents or friends, like from the outside, it looks really easy to play this game. And Zim, as you know, it’s not looks super easy on TV. Yeah. So, I think having some empathy and understanding like, hey, this is not easy, man. Like, what you’re doing right now is really hard. Um, and then being transparent and honest. Like I think regardless of of age or or experience in the game, like players at the end of the day want to know the truth. Um so yeah, I think to your point being in in that role um and having a lot of those conversations, they were tough at the time. Um, and some players didn’t like hearing some things that were told to them at the time, but the amount of times they came back a couple days later and said that they appreciated it and no one’s ever, you know, been that honest with them, like I think that’s all they can ask for. And that’s probably how you build the relationship to where it can only grow from there, right? is is maybe it’s a tough thing to say or to receive on the player side of it, but then the realization that it was for your betterment and and you did come out better on the other side of it and um it maybe gave you an opportunity to tap into something that you weren’t previously and that realization on the player side then I can I can go to this manager and I can um yeah, talk to him, know that he’s going to tell you the truth. um you know it’s it’s more respectful to do that than let someone just kind of float because it’s you only have one chance really in this in baseball. I mean every now and then you get a second chance like but you know like he was saying these people have families they you know your window your career window if you’re lucky if you’re lucky it’s five to 10 years maybe I mean most people it’s two to four years. So like having someone like him that’s willing to be like hey this is going to be a tough conversation but we see you as this unless you start doing this like you know we’re going to maybe have to move in a different direction by telling the person that they have a chance to now adjust and now maybe make a better career for themselves where if someone would have not told them that you know they would have kept doing the same stuff for two more months and then been released or something like that. So, I just, you know, transparency, honesty, and I think challenging players, and, you know, it’s I think our roster is looking for that. Yeah. And to that point, like I I’ve been overwhelmed the last few weeks just getting to talk to a lot of these guys, like the self-evaluation is unbelievable. Really? Oh my gosh. Yeah. I mean, like having the conversations with James, you know, where you touched on the second half not being as strong. That’s what he brought up right away. He’s like, I need to be a lot better next year. And I’m like, there’s a lot of a lot of kids out there at your age that would love to have the season you had in 2025, right? Yep. Um, and then, you know, talking to to Dalon Ly, like right away when I asked him what he wants to work on this offseason, he went straight to his defense. Yeah. He’s like, there’s no way that somebody at my with my athleticism should be a poor defender. And I’m like, everyone wants to talk about hitting. Yeah. No one wants to talk about defense. And he’s like, no, like it’s got to be defense. Like just some of those things. And then this the constant theme from the whole group was like we have more in the tank. Like we we need some uh like we need to we need to go like we need some help getting to the next the next level the next gear. Um and then obviously the transparency which I’ve shared with all of them. I was like there’s going to be days you’re not going to like me but I promise you you’re always going to know where you stand in our eyes and it’s not fair to let you go through 162 game season and not know what you need to get better at. I think one thing that that fans might be interested in is in the off season when you are reaching out to these guys and having these types of conversations, what does that look like from your end? How closely are you monitoring them? Are you checking in on them? Are you getting reports on them? How how does all that go? Especially as you’re trying to, you know, learn these human beings and learn their skill sets. Yeah, I think there’s a lot going on right now. I think this is a different off seasonason than hopefully the next couple years in terms of um hiring soon. Yeah. You know, building out a staff and then also just trying to get to know everybody, right? And um you know, our strength coach, our our trainers have done a tremendous job of getting reports on all these guys, where they’re at physically, where they’re at. Um you know, just just where they are in their offseason health-wise and what they’re currently working on. And then touching base with them just to want to introduce myself, kind of ask them, you know, what’s important to you as we’re going into this together. Um, and then letting them know we’re going to follow up again after, you know, a lot of the dust settles and we kind of get our feet underneath us. To that end, you have made some hires to your coaching staff already. You have a new pitching coach who’s got some DC uh roots in his past, pitched at Georgetown. Uh, you’ve got a new catching coordinator. Um, take us through some of these hires uh that you’ve made to this point already and what you like about these guys as human beings and as baseball men. Yeah, I mean I think Paul’s kind of laid things out from from the jump of like, hey, we’re making sure we’re aligned and we’re bringing in the right people first. Um, and that’s kind of how we’ve built out the staff so far is we want to bring in people that one want to work that are good people. And you know what I’ve told each of them as we’ve gone through the interview process is with countless conversations with different candidates is like, look, we’re going to be together for 162 games plus spring training, plus hopefully a playoff push. Like, we’re going to be spending a lot more time together than we are with our families. Like this needs to be a group that loves coming to work every day and loves being around each other because at the end of the day, if you don’t like showing up to work with with who you’re going to work with, like I don’t know how you get a good product out there. So, want to make sure we’re we’re all aligned as a group. We enjoy being around each other. We can mess with each other. We can have fun with it. Players feed off that as well. And first and foremost, like we got to make sure we have a group that is in it for the right reasons. I love it. Yeah. I mean, I think, you know, we talked about before you came on, like maybe having some veteran leadership in the clubhouse and, you know, I think, you know, we’ve been here for a long time. A lot of other people in this and, you know, the ch change is hard sometimes, but change is also necessary sometimes. And I think a lot of people right now are excited because it’s completely different than it was before. And that’s a good thing. you know, we did great things for the past 10 to 15 years and, you know, all good things come to an end. And to see kind of the youth the I don’t know the I’m trying to think of the right word like just the energy and the excitement and the um accountability and like the word empowering everyone is, you know, challenging them but empowering them. you know, putting a lot on someone’s plate, but also making sure you give them the tools to actually be successful. It’s one thing to tell someone like, “Hey, I need you to do this,” but then if you don’t give them the resources or the tools to do it, like how do you expect them to be successful? So, listening to you and Paul talk about like, “Hey, we’re going to challenge these guys, but we’re also going to do everything in our power to put them in a spot to succeed.” Like, I don’t know, it’s exciting to me. And I think for the roster that we have right now, I think they I think they’re kind of yearning for that. They want more responsibility. Like you said, you talk to them on the phone, they’re like, “Yeah, I need to be better. I need to do the like.” And you’re like, “Holy cow, this guy wants to do all this stuff.” Like, so I’m just excited to see see it go. And I’m excited to see at spring training. I feel like you probably already started making like spring training stuff. And um what do you like day one of spring training? Have you thought about what you’re going to say in like the meeting? To be honest, not yet. Yeah. I feel like you kind of just like the the messages that we’ve talked about. Like I love everything I’m hearing. Like I hope the fans get to hear more like obviously the press conference and all that today. And um I just think our fan base is going to be so happy with with the way he handles himself, the way he speaks, the way he empowers the players. So I just couldn’t be happier for him and and everything that’s happening in the organization. It’s going to be a it’s going to be fun to watch. Appreciate that. Yeah. Did you always want to coach to manage? Like when you were growing up, I’m sure you had designs on playing professionally and you got drafted by the Rays out of Boston College. like when did this path of your baseball life that that became realized? When did that start to form for you? Yeah, it’s probably like halfway through my college career um at BC. My my college coach, Mike Gambino, he’s at Penn State now. Um I think it was like my sophomore or junior year. He would come up to me during practice and be like, “Hey, when you’re a coach, like how would you handle this or how would you handle that?” And so he would just tell you. He did it a few times and I think it was after like three or four times I told him like I’m going to play in the big leagues for like 15 years like what do you mean when he coached um yeah and then you know he just kind of laugh and then you know I was lucky enough to get drafted and then like my second year playing I’m looking around I’m like all right these guys are like five years younger than me and they’re a whole lot better than I am. So then I think just like talking to some of those guys and seeing them have some some success based off of like just kind of trying to guide them along the way uh when I realized how much older I was than everyone else. Um made me realize like wow I have more fun like seeing them have success than my own like so it’s probably time to turn the page. He’s talked about that at the end of his playing career how you know he he was discussing a couple minutes ago like the the last year or so when he moved into a part-time role. Ryan’s talked about how like you give a tip to somebody in the cage and they go out there and they get a pinch hit or they they deliver in a big spot. How that gave him at that stage of his career more gratification, satisfaction than himself getting a hit was like do you how how do you uh describe the joy that these roles have given you personally uh over the last few years and now what this one might going forward? Yeah, I mean it’s hard to it’s hard to describe and it’s hard to explain, but just seeing professionally and personally like the conversations you have with with players that are going through a lot on the field or away from the field and then you know just the vulnerabilities when they open up to you and and you you can just kind of feel the headway you’re making with them, you know, whether it’s how they perform on the field or just being at home and and feeling better about themselves. Like that that’s the fun part, right? when you when you’re with them for a long season and you kind of ride the highs and lows together and then you you see a guy go really go through it during a year which is going to happen to everybody and then you see them kind of come out come out of it like that’s that’s the most fun and gratifying part by far. Well, I think it helps that you played like you said and you know, you you grinded out and like you just said like nobody’s going to go through a season without struggles and to be able to create an environment where honestly you can go talk about it. You can, you know, managers always say, “My door is always open.” Or or this, like, which some managers say that, and you’re like, “Yeah, the door guy, the door’s open, but I don’t really feel like walking through that door, you know, like something like that.” Like, you have to almost make it a feeling of like, “Hey, I’m one of you, but also like you guys have the club.” It’s it’s an interesting dynamic that happens in the big leagues because as a manager, and obviously I’m not a manager, but I’ve had a lot of managers. The best managers that I ever had were the ones that were like, “Hey, my door’s open.” And you kind of felt like the manager was one of you, but there was also separation cuz you have to empower the players. The p the players h it has to be their team and you have to give them the power to do that. But also, it’s like this weird relationship where they also have to have the ability to feel comfortable enough to come to you and be like, “Hey, I’m like you said, maybe I’m having something off the field or like professional sports, it’s tough to like talk about that stuff. you’re supposed to be like this big tough guy and like a lot of times if you just have a conversation about something maybe off the field it then frees you up to go play or like hey man I I was going through that and like sometimes it it’s like a five minute conversation over breakfast and then that could do it. So just like you said, the ability to relate with players, the ability to have honest conversations, and I think most importantly, just, you know, gain their trust, and the only way to do that is to, like you said this whole interview, communicate, be honest, be transparent, and make them the best players that they can possibly be. On the field, what sort of identity do you want the Washington Nationals to have under your stewardship? I just wanted to say the word stewardship. Yeah. Um, I think first and foremost, like we need to be fundamentally sound. Um, the biggest thing for me is like control the controllables, right? Like we’re going to play hard. We’re going to do the little things right. Um, are we going to win every game? No. But if we can control the things that we can control, running a hard 90, touching the base the right way, putting tag down the right way, um, showing up the stretch on time, like all those small things. I think that kind of when you do that day after day after day, it kind of leads to long-term success, at least in my opinion. Um, yeah, I want these guys to play hard. I want them to play clean and play the game the right way. Um, and win or lose, like if they can go out there and play hard and do the best they can possibly do every night, like whatever happens happens. We can live with that. You’ve got some athletes on this team. You’ve got some kids that can that can run, that can go first to third. Do do you see yourself like do you see this team as being aggressive as like fighting for extra 90s? That sort of a thing? Yeah, 100%. Like first of third is huge. I think there’s a lot of guys on this team that can there’s some low hanging fruit there base running wise with stealing some extra bases. Um, you know, it’s it’s funny because, you know, you come from a player development background where, as you know, coming up, like you want to take some chances and learn how to steal bases and get thrown out and learn how to try, but we’re in the big leagues, like you got to win, you know? So, there’s a there’s definitely a balance there of like we’re going to be aggressive, we’re going to be smart. Um, and I think we’re going to make some mistakes, but the biggest thing is that we don’t make the same mistake more than once. Um, I think when a guy goes first to third and he gets thrown out, like we’ll look at it and understand kind of why and what happened and make sure that that process is in place and then hopefully that same situation is going to come up two weeks later. We make the make the adjustment we learn from it. Well, sometimes it’s okay to get thrown out first and third. I mean, we always talk about the scoreboard tells you what to do and just baseball IQ and teaching these kids when to take a chance and when not to take a chance. the the decision to take the chance or not take the chance should be decided on basically before the ball is hit. And if we can I say we if he can teach these kids to to learn that and sometimes it’s okay to take a chance and if you get thrown out whatever the game like you didn’t really influence the game too much either way. No, if you’re down Yeah. down six down Yeah. Whatever. There there there’s easy times and then there’s hard times. But, you know, I think most importantly, like he said it that he wants the team identity to be aggressive to and you know, when I played against a team when I played third base or, you know, when and you knew every single person was going to run every ball out or if you played outfield and you knew every single person was going to try and take that extra base, if your team has that mentality or has that reputation, like when you have your team meetings, you’re like, “Hey, this team’s going going to do this and like that can make a difference in four or five wins a year and then all of a sudden you win three or four extra games just because you didn’t do anything better. The other the other team is just so worried about it. Make a mistake that way or so you have to but you have to earn that respect. You can’t just do it for a week. You can’t just do it for a month. You got to do it every single day. And you know like he’s talking about the accountability being on time for stretch doing little things right creates long-term success. But I would argue it also creates culture and basically chemistry and what you want your organization to be. So when we start trading for guys or when we start signing free agents, you have your core group of guys, whoever that ends up being that you either come in and you join it or I mean that’s it’s it’s kind of I always use the Patriots and Bill Bich, which people hate, but like nobody was bigger than the team. You could be a superstar, but if you didn’t want to do how we do it, then you’re not going to win that way. So, you know, I think it’s exciting to hear and I’m excited to watch these young kids get to be with him because, you know, we talked about this and I always I feel like I always say this, but like I love Davey, I love Miggy, I love like they’re great baseball people, but like I’m really excited to see this group of young players get to be with him and Paul and everyone else you guys are bringing in cuz I really think they’re going to love it and I just want to sit sit back and and watch watch the magic happen. Yeah. Ryan and I will be down in West Palm. We’ll just be hanging in the dugout and we’ll we’ll watch it work and fire up for that. Yeah. Just kind of watch and talk about it and watch the magic happen. Yeah. Yeah. Sounds great. Uh you want to do rapid fires? Sure. I guess you got anything else? No, I think we’re good. Okay. He’s got Yeah, he’s he’s a busy man. Busy day. Uh, so every guest that we have on the 11 Denning podcast, Blake, we wrap up the interview with some rapid fire questions. When Ryan played, he hit 11 walk-off home runs, so he developed the nickname Mr. Walkoff. Okay. So, we ask five rapid fire questions or five walk-off questions from Mr. Walkoff. This is going to be the hardest part of the day. It’s from my leatherbound book that I actually still write in. It’s kind of like we were talking about, I write actual I write actual checks still, you know. It’s All right, you ready? So, the first question and the last question are always the same for every guest we’ve had. So, those are pretty easy. And the ones in the middle, I’ll mix it up a little bit. But first one, like the motto you live your life by, like dayto-day, is there a slogan? Is there a piece of advice that you’ve gotten over the years that you always come back to? I guess I mean, this one’s I don’t know if you’re going to love this one, but it’s treat people the way you want to be treated. That’s what my parents told me and my brother. So, that’s pretty cool. Yep. Simple. Simple. Yeah. Simple. But I think at the end of the day, it kind of lines up with with how you should behave as a human and a friend and a teammate and a husband and you name it, right? Yep. Yep. Love it. Good. Good start. My parents would love that. Is it harder to manage a newborn or do you think it’ll be harder to manage 26 grown-up children? Oh, I thought you were going to name a specific player right there. first interview. Second interview, I’ll throw away. I might say the 26 grown-up children cuz I don’t have my wife to help me. Yeah, that’s true. Two for two. Yep. Two for two. What’s the best thing you’ve learned managing all these years? Or it wouldn’t even be managing even in any of the roles you’ve had in your career. It kind I want to say it goes back to the first question of motto, but like is there a manager or is there someone you worked under either in Tampa or Australia or Mexico or that you’ve like that day they did something you were kind of like you’ve always carried it with you in your manager or player development or just any of your career so far? I think it’s really just like the like positive energy. I think baseball like everyone says it’s a game of failure. Yep. And it’s so easy to be negative because there’s so many failures that happen throughout a game and like you know hitters throughout a season. Three out of you get three hits out of 10 at bats like you’re you’re looking pretty good. There’s a lot of failure. I think just bringing positive energy and and confidence and like make players feel good. Like it’s 162 games. It’s a hard season. It’s a hard game. Like positive energy that goes for things beyond baseball too, right? Like you get back from a road trip at 4:00 or 5 in the morning. like it’s easy to be salty about that or like there’s a delay on the tarmac or like something goes wrong like you’re away from your family whatever it is like I I think that just eliminating the negative thoughts and focusing on the positive probably helps across the board. Yeah, we’re playing baseball. Things could be worse and you’re in the big leagues and yeah, there’s and it it’s hard to stay positive sometimes, but I think too like you get in late, you have plane trouble, something like that. Like, you know, hey, it’s going to be a tough one today. Like, let’s go out and let’s be positive and let’s use it as like, hey, nobody thinks we have a chance today because of this. Like, so yeah, positive energy. Huge. Love that. All right. A lot of uh a lot of good restaurants in DC. What’s your favorite type of food? So, I can go two directions. Either chicken parm or a good steak. All right. We’ve got some really good Italian in DC. Yeah. So, you could go good Italian restaurant that has good chicken parm, which also has steak. Yeah. I got a few in mind. All right. So, Italian or like a good steakhouse? Yeah. Yeah. I’m I’m a bit of a foodie. I love good restaurants. Anytime I go to New City, that’s I want to find a good coffee shop or a good restaurant. Like, that’s that’s the go-to. Love it. All right, last question. Go-to karaoke song. Probably Don’t Stop Believing by Journey. Okay. Positive energy. Yeah. Yeah, that’s right. That all ties in. That’s perfect. Yeah. Now, that’s probably got to be more towards the end of the night, right? Like people are a little lubed up at that point. Yeah. Have to be. Yeah. That’s after the chicken parm, bottle of wine. Yes. Change in venue. Yes. You were about to go home but then went to a different place and now we’re at to do don’t stop believing. Yeah. To cap off the night. Yeah. It happens sometimes. Yeah. Once or twice. It’s okay. Blake, thanks for joining us. Congratulations on a really exciting opportunity and really happy for you for your growing family and uh thanks for taking a little bit of time out of your busy day to sit with us. No, thanks guys. This is fun. Let’s do it more often. Yeah, man. Looking forward to it. Same here. You’re going to have to have chats like these about what 320 times a year with the local media. So, if we can find out a good restaurant, do it over. I’m all for it. Okay. All right. There we go. Blake But, the National’s newest manager here with us on the 11th inning podcast with Koko and Zim. Welcome back to the 11th inning podcast. Awesome conversation with Blake But uh getting to sit down with him and hope you guys enjoyed some time with the Nat’s new skipper. Zim, couple fan questions here. Um, keep them coming out there. We’re I know we’re only doing podcast once a month now, but let’s go like let’s get these questions rolling in. It’s not baseball season, so maybe be a little bit more creative. Yeah, I don’t have to be about baseball. It can be about NFL. It can be about life. Life. It can Yeah, it doesn’t have to be about baseball. Baseball is encouraged and that stuff is encouraged, but me and Dan actually do like talking about other stuff besides baseball. So, that’s what we do. You can ask me more updates on my fruit aversion. You can ask Zim to pick which of his four children is his favorite. Really, anything you want. Easy questions. Uh, easy stuff. All right, let’s get to one from uh Sean McNamera here. Oh, by the way, the the uh email, Zim, what’s the email? Oh, boy. It’s been a long time. I have 11th.ining nationals.com. Yeah, there we go. Oh, you got it. You got it. Put him on the spot and he delivered. 11th inning at nationals.com. Send in those questions. This one from Sean Mc Oh, no. He’s appreciating the fact that his last one I got his name right. Ma McMmana. Mcmana. Sean McMmana. First of all, thank you for the super detailed response to the last question. Was able to show the clip to the younger players I work with and they loved it. My family, however, was more pumped about Dan getting our last name correct than anything. So, you’re welcome, Sean. Uh Sean says, “Obviously, the team has a lot of young talent, but some spots that need to be filled. What additions do you think will be key to make going into next year to hopefully start being competitive again and continue the development of the younger players?” Ryan, where do you think the most important areas to target are for this nationals team? Yeah, well, I think you wait and see what kind of happen. The next month or so is really where everything sort of shakes out. Whether you trade people or you DFA people or you may move some people on and off with the 40man. But I mean they already have that in mind. It’s just not public knowledge. I guess I think the next couple weeks is when a lot of that really shakes out and then you’ll kind of see sort of what the plan is for the off season. Um, so I don’t know if I want to really get into like the actual positions, but my thought is we need a couple veteran guys, some leadership presence, not on a one-year deal. And I always say it’s super easy for me to spend other people’s money. So, you know, I’ll sit here from this chair and say what we should do when I don’t have to do anything about it. Uh but you know I think you know in my opinion it’s unfair to ask James Wood or Dylan Cruz or Dalen Lyle or you know insert young really good player name here to be relied upon as a leader in the clubhouse. And I’m not saying they won’t be leaders, but you know, James, Dylan, Dalon, Brady, all these guys are just really trying to figure out how to be consistent big league players, how to stay. And that’s hard enough. It’s also way harder to put on top of that, like, hey, if we’re going through a rough stretch, maybe call a team meeting or, you know, they shouldn’t have to do that stuff. And you know, not saying we haven’t had veterans in the past and I think Trevor Williams did a really good job a couple years ago, obviously got hurt last year, but he was still around and and those guys matter. Um, but it’s also different to have a guy on a one-year deal where like, you know, hey, if we play good, you’ll be here. If not, you’re probably going to get traded. Also, that type of player is a good major league player, but they’re still worried about their own career. So, at the same time, if they’re not going to be here for more than half a year or a year, are they really going to take the time to mentor James and Dylan and Mackenzie Gore and, you know, all these young pitchers that we have that need mentorship like, you know, they they have to worry about their own career. So getting a couple veteran guys, position players and pitchers, whatever that mix is, that are here 2, 3, four years, and I’m not saying you have to go out and go crazy and get the top of the top of the the list free agency, although that that would be cool, too. uh you know, just someone that they know they’re going to be here and they come on board, you know, knowing that, hey, you’re going to be a really good player for us, but also you’re basically going to be a mentor. Um, you know, for lack of a better word, a babysitter. Uh, you know, you are going to show these guys how to be big leaguers and you’re going to take some pressure off of them. They can just go play. You handle the media. You handle the tough questions. You make sure we have team dinners. You make sure when we have a day off on the road, people are hanging out together, not in their hotel rooms all day. Or if somebody isn’t doing something that they’re supposed to be doing, you’re the one who calls them on it. And more importantly, you teach them to call other people on it. And you create a culture of accountability where it’s okay to go up to someone and say, “Hey, man. We’re going to need you to run that out.” And that person, more importantly, doesn’t snap back at you. They say, “You know what? You’re right. Thank you for telling me that.” So those little things make a big difference. And you know, if you have a day off and the caps are in town, you get a suite for the team. And so I know that doesn’t answer what what part of the roster we need, but I think we just need some veteran leadership to make these young guys take the the, you know, the stress of that leadership role off of them and just let them develop and become big leaguers. And obviously, I didn’t play. I’m not trying to speak as if I did, but I’ll just add a little bit to that. We all love Josh Bell and Josh Bell did a great job this year, but I think an added little factor to consider is not only are guys that are on one-year deals maybe focused on themsel and their numbers and extending their career or whatever it might be, but also they might feel an uncertainty or an unwillingness, I should say, to be the vocal guy when they’re not going to be here for a long period of time. there there’s some that might create some uncomfortable sort of feelings for a veteran guy who maybe does want to say something but doesn’t have the stature inside this clubhouse and the seniority inside this clubhouse to do that. And it’s the same reason why teams try and avoid like lame duck managers. if if if a guy is only going to be around for a year, you know, do we really need to buy into everything that he’s telling us, even the tough stuff, um I I think that might be a small factor to consider as well. No, 100%. And I think uh you know, we do have some great young talent and not saying they couldn’t develop without this, but I think it it helps the process if you have three or four real veteran guys that can help these young guys out. I like it. Okay. Uh, one more question this week is from Kyle Lucy who says, “Hey guys, big fan of the pod since day one. I’m a Nats fan from the Boston area, so I try and consume as much Nationals talk as often as I can. I became a Nats fan when my town’s little league adopted the Nationals name and I got put on that team. Then again for the major and Babe Ruth league, it was pretty much my destiny to be a Nationals fan. Love that. I like it.” And like a certain someone, I started at third and then moved over to first a few years later. All right, you and Kyle Lucy, pretty much the same player. Uh Kyle actually has a question for me. He says, “If you could give the call to any non-B baseball championship clinching moment, what sport would you choose and why?” Good question. That’s a really good question. Um, there’s something to me, and I know you love the sport too, about college basketball and the NCAA tournament that just NFL fans are passionate about their NFL team, but there’s something about the madness of March and um I think a team fighting through the gauntlet of 64 68 teams and being the last one standing on at, you know, huge floor with a 100,000 people in a non baseball or non- basketball arena. Um, it’s just really cool. And I’ve, uh, I’ve called some college basketball games over the last, uh, few years in the baseball offseason. It’s fun to do. And, yeah, I just think having the call of a really exciting tournament ending moment like that would be a really cool thing to do, especially if it was like a buzzer beater. Oh my goodness. Or something crazy. and like the Cinderella story beating a blue blood like program. I you know my thoughts on March Madness. It’s one of if not my favorite time of the year. Totally. But uh that would be cool. I selfishly would love for you to call like a World Cup final in Spanish. World Cup would be sick, dude. That would be sick. Are you going to try and go to a World Cup game? It’s Yeah, it’s coming. It is. It’s coming soon. Um I’ve never been what I would love to go over to a like Premier League game. I did that. Yeah. I heard all my buddies say it’s like the coolest atmosphere and then we went to a pub right across the street after and then they’re doing all the chance and yeah, it’s it’s something else. So soccer, you know, growing up, nobody, everyone always kind of was like, ah, soccer, whatever. And then Daniel Murphy was huge in soccer and started having it on TV on Saturdays when they started airing. And like, ever since I started watching that, first of all, that’s a different kind of soccer. That’s legit. It’s fun to watch that soccer. Um, but I’ve always wanted to go over there. So, World Cup final would be a sick call. All right. You I mean, you’re you’re a broadcaster now, too. Maybe we uh we get you have to touch up on my clubhouse Spanish before I before I go over there, but uh be good. Awesome. Good stuff uh on this episode of the 11th inning podcast. Thank you to you guys for your questions. Please keep them coming. Uh 11th.ining nationals.com. Thank Thank you to Blake Butra for joining us on this month’s episode. Thank you to Wendy Bailey, our executive producer. Thank you to Olivia, to Lizzie, to everyone helping out behind the scenes bring you this now monthly podcast in the off season. And uh we’ll be back in another month. We’re going to keep this cadence going until um we get close to the start of the 2026 regular season. It’ll be here before we know it. Yeah, we’ll keep you up to date. Hopefully in the next month we’ll have some uh exciting stuff to talk about. I feel like this is when it starts to get going. You have the the GM meetings and and all that stuff and usually stuff gets a little uh hot and heavy around then. So we’ll have some good stuff to talk about. Thanks again. Thank you everybody. We’ll catch you next month on the 11th inning podcast with Coco and Zim.

Episode SIXTEEN of The 11th Inning podcast with Dan Kolko and Ryan Zimmerman is here with brand new Washington Nationals manager Blake Butera–MLB’s youngest manager in over 50 years.

The guys talk to Blake about the hiring process, being a brand new dad to a baby girl, his coaching philosophy, conversations with James Wood and Daylen Lile, building a competitive team culture, and more.

Listen to the full podcast on:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1iJD2NLqdqQqMVLuSCI1gu?si=mow6HBhDQry3F-QTqEWbXg&nd=1&dlsi=0d8e7969f7544c48
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-11th-inning-with-kolko-and-zim/id902526402
Megaphone: https://cms.megaphone.fm/channel/ENTDM3016621476

Submit your questions for Kolko & Zim at 11th.inning@nationals.com
_____________________________________________________________________

Make sure you don’t miss any of your favorite videos from the Washington Nationals and subscribe now!

Make your way to Nationals Park to see all your favorite Nats live at nats.com/tickets.

Follow us to keep track of everything happening on the field, and off:

Twitter: http://twitter.com/nationals
Facebook: http://facebook.com/nationals
Instagram: http://instagram.com/nationals