It’s clear that the top priority of the Washington Nationals right now is to fill out a coaching staff for their new manager Blake Butera and add members to their front office.
When 35-year-old president of baseball operations Paul Toboni decided to make 33-year-old Blake Butera the skipper of the Nationals, it was clear that some experience was needed on his staff. That came by way of hiring Michael Johns, a 50-year-old who had managerial experience at the Triple-A, High-A and rookie ball levels before becoming a first base coach in the bigs.
However, the rest of the hires have mirrored the youth approach Washington has gone with throughout the winter, as they hired 30-year-old Simon Mathews to become the pitching coach and Grant Anders to be their MLB development coach and bullpen catcher.
The Nationals added another piece of the puzzle on Tuesday. Spencer Nusbaum of The Washington Post reported that Corey Ray was hired to be the team’s new first base coach.
Who Is Corey Ray?
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Baseball fans might be familiar with this name. Ray was the fifth overall pick of the 2016 MLB draft by the Milwaukee Brewers. He was a high-profile prospect during his time in the minors, but he had a hard time piecing everything together that allowed him to reach his ceiling.
Still, the Brewers stuck with him and he eventually made his major league debut in 2021. Unfortunately for him, his time in The Show lasted just one game, as he was sent back down after that before he was placed on outright waivers in June of 2022.
Ray got into coaching following that since he didn’t sign with another team. The Chicago Cubs offered him the bench coach job for their Single-A affiliate in the spring of 2023, and he decided to take it. Then in 2024, he was named manager of the Cubs’ Arizona Complex League team. Ray also served as their baserunning coordinator.
— Corey Ray (@CoachCRay2) December 1, 2025
Ray is now taking a huge step forward in his career as Washington’s first base coach. The 31-year-old is the latest young coach to be added to this staff, so he fits in with what the organization envisions from that perspective.
At this point in time, it seems clear that Toboni and Butera will put together a coaching staff that is young, with Johns being the elder statesman and veteran as the bench coach.
It’s a risky strategy since Butera doesn’t have any experience coaching in a major league dugout. But it’s also clear the Nationals needed to change their previous approach where their staff was full of veteran coaches.
How things will work out is anyone’s guess, but Ray is the latest young addition to this coaching staff who could be a rising star in the coaching ranks.
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