The Washington Nationals hired Devin Pearson, Boston's director of amateur scouting since 2020, as assistant general manager. The move reunites Pearson with new Nationals GM James Wagner, who spent eight seasons in Boston's front office before arriving in Washington this winter.
Pearson ran amateur scouting for the Red Sox through four draft classes, including the 2023 cycle that produced $9.2 million signing bonus outfielder Kyle Teel and $3.8 million prep arm Mikey Romero. Boston's 2021 class—Pearson's first—landed Marcelo Mayer at fourth overall, now the organization's top prospect per MLB Pipeline. The Red Sox drafted 38 players under Pearson's tenure who signed for six figures or more. Fourteen are currently ranked among Boston's top-30 prospects.
Washington enters Year Two of a patient rebuild. The club won 71 games in 2024 and holds the fifth overall pick in July's draft, their highest selection since taking Stephen Strasburg first in 2009. They have $47 million committed to the 2026 payroll—sixth-lowest in baseball—and own compensatory picks at 33 and 38 after losing Patrick Corbin and Kyle Finnegan to free agency. That's $14.4 million in available bonus pool money before overages, the third-largest allocation in the National League.
Pearson's hire suggests Wagner will centralize decision-making around the draft and international markets rather than major-league free agency. The Nationals have signed exactly one player to a multiyear deal exceeding $20 million since their 2019 World Series title—a three-year, $21 million extension for Keibert Ruiz in 2023. Their highest-paid player in 2025 is Trevor Williams at $8.5 million. The organizational philosophy is volume: accumulate controllable talent, develop in-house, and defer expensive veteran additions until a competitive window opens around 2027.
The assistant GM title carries weight in Washington. Current AGMs Emily Schutt and De Jon Watson both report directly to Wagner and hold final approval on international signings above $500,000. Pearson will likely assume oversight of the domestic amateur operation, including area scouts, crosscheckers, and the analytics team that models draft-eligible player projections. Boston's scouting staff lost four area scouts to other organizations in the past 18 months, and Pearson's departure opens a director-level vacancy two months before spring training.
Watch whether Pearson brings personnel with him. The Nationals have 11 area scout positions and two national crosschecker roles currently unfilled, per industry tracking. Boston's Northeastern area scout and its analytics coordinator both have expiring contracts in March. Washington's international department is also thin—six full-time scouts covering Latin America compared to nine for Boston—and Pearson worked closely with Red Sox international VP Eddie Romero on cross-departmental evaluations.
Wagner's first hire is a scouting director, not a player-development chief or a major-league operations deputy. That's the tell. The Nationals are building from the draft, not the trade market, and they just hired the person who filled Boston's farm system before it started graduating talent.