The Nationals have hired Brad Ciolek as their new senior director of amateur scouting, as initially reported by The Athletic’s Keith Law (X link). Andrew Golden of the Washington Post was the first to report Ciolek’s specific new title, and he’ll work under another new hire in scouting director Danny Haas. Both Hass and Ciolek worked together in the Orioles’ front office from 2012-19, with Ciolek only just leaving Baltimore after acting as the director of draft operations.
The Talk Nats blog also reported that amateur scout Reed Dunn is close to joining the organization, and Ciolek and Dunn are just two of several new hires within a significantly reshaped player development system. President of baseball operations Mike Rizzo has been looking to upgrade how the Nationals identify and develop young talent, as the latest step in the team’s rebuilding process. D.C. made some progress with the big league roster in 2023, but with contention still probably at least one more years away, figuring out how to add more quality prospects to the pipeline is of major importance. Ciolek has plenty of experience on this front, as he contributed to the Orioles’ own rebuild, and the deep core of prospects that now has the O’s in great shape to contend for the next decade.
More from around the NL and AL East divisions…
- Advancing to the NLDS means that the Phillies will now need a fourth starter, and Taijuan Walker and Cristopher Sanchez are set to throw simulated games on Sunday to ramp up their arms for the possible assignment, The Athletic’s Matt Gelb writes. Neither pitcher saw any action in the first two playoff rounds, and neither has pitched since September 30, hence the need for some extra warm-up. Gelb figures Walker might get the official start in Game 4 since Walker has rarely ever worked as a reliever during his career, though both Walker and Sanchez could get some action during the game, perhaps in a piggyback capacity. The Phillies haven’t yet announced their starters for the first three games, though it is expected to be Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, and Ranger Suarez, probably in that order.
- The Rays announced a series of internal promotions and role changes within their organization on Friday. Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times has the full list, led by Blake Butera becoming the new senior director of player development. Just 31 years old, Butera will now oversee the Rays’ vaunted player development system just seven years after he was in the farm system himself as a 35th-round pick for Tampa Bay in the 2015 draft. After ending his playing career, Butera spent five years in the minors as a coach and manager in the Rays’ system, then worked as an assistant field coordinator in 2023.
Sanchez has much better career numbers as a SP then a RP and was better down the stretch. it should 100% be him.
Agreed. I’d go Sanchez at least once through the order to start.
Agree, DarkSide830. It has to be Sanchez. Plus Sanchez is LH, so that’ll help vs. Carroll and probably put Thomas on the bench.
Unless the Phillies do an el-foldo like the O’s, Dodgers or Braves, they should win this series. Although, I must give kudos to Gallen and Kelley. They are both very good. Just think in Games 1 and 2, good as those two are, Wheeler and Nola are better.
I like the Phillies but you’re living in a dream world if you think Wheeler and Nola are better than Gallen and Kelley.
Lorenzen?
You might be living in a dream world if you think Gallen and Kelley are better than Wheeler and Nola at this stage of the game. Playoffs. Wheeler and Nola all day
I would consider Wheeler and Gallen to be a push. Nola is for sure better than Kelley though. And for a considerabley longer amount of time.
You’re all living in a dream world because it’s Merrill Kelly! Idk who Kelley is!
Doesn’t matter how you re-shuffle the deck within the Rays’ circus. It’s a bad hand.
Hilarious
The Rays need to move to Nashville or Memphis. Year after year, the fans don’t support the team.
Ergo, a bummer for the players and fewer $$$ for the team to spend on FA talent and/or keeping their own players. You could make up a pretty good team with ex-Rays.
There’s lots of Rays fans. The stadium is just a pain and hindrance to get to. It’s practically on a penninsula.
Rays and the city of Tampa literally just agreed on new stadium funding and a new lease.
Rays and the city of ST. PETERSBURG literally just agreed on new stadium financing and a new lease.
Fixed it for you.
I wish it was Tampa. That would help attendance drastically.
Absolutely. I’m a Sox fan but live in Florida. The difference between Tampa and St. Petersburg is at least 30 to 45 minutes. St. Petersburg is not easy to get to
The ignorant just parrot what they hear on ESPN, and they haven’t a clue of local reality.
It’s insane how cold the Braves’ bats were in the NLDS. Suarez looked like Greg Maddox.
Still wondering why the A.L has to play first on Monday ? That should have been the 4 pm game.
Prck – As always, it’s driven by television.
First game of LCS is always the prime time game because first games draw more interest.
This move by the Nats is one of the most significant recent developments. Scouting directors make or break a GM’s tenure and Rizzo just really brought in an ace. Ciolek is no Al Avila, but he certainly knows how to spot talent.
The next thing they need to do is upgrade their strength and conditioning slot and they’ll be well positioned to become a potential maximizing franchise again. They should look to bring in a European premiere league guy and really get their guys generating maximum force from their core.
A former MLB player and coach once told me, “Give me three innings in the bleachers, and I don’t care if it’s T-Ball or big-time college baseball, and I’ll know who the best player on the field is.”.
Talent shows itself like the beacon of a lighthouse.
You’re as arrogant as you are ignorant. Lolz
Yo, blood. You skip Charm School this morning!
C’mom, Omar. There are millions of kids playing baseball each summer. And there’s a “Best Player” on every team. However, only about 800 get to play in the majors each year. Thus, the odds are long, even for the best player on the field.
But the GM of an MLB team doesn’t have to look that far down the food chain (i.e. T-Ball). He or she, augmented by their scouts, ought to be able to field a good team, and especially one like the Yankees who have big bucks to buy whatever they need.
I think the “best player on the field” types of talents typically go in round #1 of the draft. Those are obvious ones and easy choices. Whether they become successful or not in the majors is unknown.
The real organizational strength comes from the rounds that follow and finding/developing stars out of unrefined players. That is where hires such as Brad Ciolek and Danny Haas will prove their worth. The Orioles are going to miss both of them.
Brad Haas hasn’t been with the orioles in years….We won’t miss him
Danny Haas*
Brad Ciolek wasn’t an original Elias hire but he was one of the few that stuck around. That certainly speaks to his abilities. O’s have done a bang up job in the draft. That’ll be a nice addition for the Nats.