Nationals President of Baseball Operations Paul Toboni just made a major move in the front office, hiring Ani Kilambi to be the GM. This is a move that came out of the blue. For a high profile position like GM, there was no buzz around the Nats hiring Kilambi. However, the move has been made, and Kilambi will be leaving the Phillies to join the Nats.

At 31 years old, Kilambi fits the archetype that Paul Toboni has been looking for in the front office. In a room full of young executives, Kilambi is one of the youngest. That is not to say he lacks experience though. He has been working in baseball for nearly a decade now. Right after he got out of college, he went to work for the Tampa Bay Rays.

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Even before he left school, Kilambi had an internship with the Rays organization before that turned into a full time job. Interestingly, Kilambi went to Cal Berkeley just like Toboni, but it is unclear if they had any crossover. Kilambi spent 5.5 years in the Rays organization. He worked on the R&D side of things, working his way up in one of the smartest organizations in baseball.

In 2021, Kilambi left to be an Assistant GM for the Phillies, where he has been ever since. While in Philadelphia, Kilambi ran the Phillies research and development department. When he joined the Phillies, he was only 27 years old, which shows how much of a prodigy he is.

Dave Dombrowski is seen as more of an old school guy. However, he has adapted as an executive, which is a big reason why he has been so successful for so long. Kilambi played a big role in helping Dombrowski on the analytical side. The Inquirer actually wrote an interesting profile on him about a year back.

This hire is both expected and unexpected. On the one hand, this totally fits the bill of a Paul Toboni hire. Kilambi is an up and coming executive who is very young. That is a profile that Toboni loves to target. He also fills a need in the organization as well. Toboni, as well as Devin Pearson and Justin Horowitz come from scouting backgrounds. They needed an R&D guy to fill their blind spots. Kilambi, and also Mike DeBartolo will help out with that.

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However, this is also a bit unexpected. Back in November, Toboni said he was not planning on hiring a GM, but here we are just a month later and Ani Kilambi is the Nats GM. I am curious to know how we got here.

This is just an educated guess, but Toboni really wanted Kilambi, but the only way to get him out of Philadelphia was to offer him this GM role. That is just my view, but it is something that makes logical sense.

With this title, Kilambi will be above the likes of Pearson, Horowitz and DeBartolo on the organizational depth chart. The only man he will have to answer to is Paul Toboni. This is another big and very interesting swing by Toboni. I am not sure how this new project will work out, but it is ambitious and I am fascinated to see how it goes.