The Washington Nationals hired Devin Pearson, the Boston Red Sox's director of amateur scouting, as assistant general manager. The move is new GM John Wagner's first external hire since replacing Mike Rizzo in December, and it pulls directly from the organization where Wagner spent 16 years before joining Washington.
Pearson ran Boston's amateur scouting department, overseeing draft operations and the domestic scouting staff that identified players like Marcelo Mayer (2021, fourth overall) and Roman Anthony (2022, second round). Wagner served as Boston's vice president of baseball operations and assistant GM before the Nationals promoted him from senior vice president to the general manager chair. The Pearson hire reunites the two within a front office that ranked 27th in MLB draft spending efficiency over the past five seasons, per FanGraphs surplus-value models.
The Nationals hold the sixth overall pick in the 2025 draft after finishing 71-91 last season. They have not selected a position player who made an All-Star team since 2012 (Anthony Rendon, sixth overall). Their amateur pipeline dried up during the final years of Rizzo's tenure, which ended when ownership restructured the front office in response to declining revenue and a farm system ranked 22nd by Baseball America entering 2024. Pearson inherits a scouting budget that increased 12% in January, according to two executives with knowledge of the Nationals' 2025 baseball operations allocation, though the organization declined to confirm.
Wagner and Pearson both reported to Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow during Boston's 2024 season. Pearson's departure leaves Boston searching for a new amateur scouting director four months before the draft. The Red Sox hold the 14th overall pick and have not yet announced a replacement. One AL front-office executive noted that Boston's scouting structure relied heavily on Pearson's relationships with Northeast scouts, an area where the Red Sox have historically held signaling advantages. The Nationals now gain access to those networks, though poaching evaluators mid-cycle typically produces delayed returns.
Washington's 2024 draft class included two college pitchers in the first three rounds and no high-school position players in the top ten rounds, a risk profile consistent with a front office managing toward immediate MLB roster gaps rather than long-term upside. Pearson's track record skews younger and riskier: Boston's 2023 class ranked ninth in Baseball America's immediate post-draft rankings, driven by high-school selections. The Nationals have not had a draft class finish in the top ten since 2019.
The assistant GM title suggests Pearson will operate beyond amateur scouting, likely contributing to international spending and pro scouting integration. Wagner has not yet filled the senior director of pro scouting vacancy created when he was promoted. The Nationals' international bonus pool for 2024-2025 was $5.18 million, ranking 18th in MLB. They have not signed a top-50 international prospect since Cristhian Vaquero in 2021, who remains in High-A.
Two rival executives said the Pearson hire signals Wagner intends to centralize decision-making around a smaller group of trusted evaluators rather than maintain the decentralized structure Rizzo built. Wagner cleaned out three regional crosscheckers in January, per sources, though the Nationals characterized those moves as standard turnover. Pearson's arrival completes the front-office skeleton Wagner needs to execute the June draft without relying on Rizzo-era holdovers.
The Nationals open Grapefruit League play February 21. Wagner has not yet addressed whether the organization will increase its amateur spending beyond the sixth pick's slot value, which projects to $6.3 million. Boston's 2024 draft budget ran $13.8 million, the 11th-highest total in baseball. Washington spent $9.1 million last year, 19th in the league.
The takeaway
Wagner's first GM-level hire reunites him with Boston's amateur scouting architect and reshapes Washington's draft infrastructure ahead of a top-ten pick.
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