Ani Kilambi, 31, named as Nationals general manager

The Washington Nationals have hired Ani Kilambi as their new general manager, the team announced Thursday.

Kilambi will switch organizations in the National League East after previously being an assistant general manager for the Philadelphia Phillies, working with that club since 2021.

Before that, he was with the Tampa Bay Rays for more than five years.

“Our goal is to be the highest performing organization in baseball,” Kilambi said in a statement. “To do so, we aim to exemplify our core values of joy, humility, integrity and competitiveness, while displaying sharp eyes for talent and best-in-class player development. I’m excited to call Washington, D.C. my home and cannot wait to get started.”

Kilambi takes over a job that was held for more than a decade and a half by Mike Rizzo, who became the general manager in Washington in 2009 and added the title of president of baseball operations in 2013. Rizzo was fired in July during the Nationals’ sixth consecutive losing season. Manager Dave Martinez also was fired then.

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Rizzo and Martinez were in charge in 2019 when the Nationals won the World Series, but the team hasn’t had a winning year since. Washington went 66-96 in 2025, putting it 14th out of 15 clubs in the National League.

Mike DeBartolo took over as interim general manager after Rizzo was let go and oversaw the selection of 17-year-old high school shortstop Eli Willits with the No. 1 pick in Major League Baseball’s amateur draft in July.

Paul Toboni, 35, was hired in late September to run the Nationals. Toboni, who had been an assistant general manager with the Boston Red Sox, brought in manager Blake Butera, who at 33 became the youngest skipper in the majors since the 1970s.

“Ani has earned a reputation around the industry as one of the brightest front office minds in the game,” Toboni said in a statement. “He’s not only a sharp and strategic leader who is a great communicator, but he is also thoughtful and humble and aligns with our values. Ani is an excellent complement to the leadership group we have in place, both in terms of his past experiences and who he is as a person.”

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.