Paul Toboni has been one of the fastest rising executives in baseball, and in recent years he’d emerged as a key leader in the Boston Red Sox front office under Craig Breslow.
Now the Bay Area native is set to call the shots of his own.
According to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, Toboni is finalizing a deal to become the Washington Nationals’ new head of baseball operations. The 35-year-old will succeed Mike Rizzo, who was fired by the club earlier this season after a 17-year tenure leading the Nationals.
Toboni currently serves as one of five assistant general managers for the Red Sox, initially earning a promotion to the role ahead of the 2024 season. Toboni has served in the Red Sox organization in various capacities since 2015, starting as an intern and steadily working his way up through the front office, primarily in scouting roles.
Toboni was a baseball and basketball star at St. Ignatius High in San Francisco before crossing the Bay to join the Cal Bears baseball team. He was part of the same recruiting class as Marcus Semien and also played with Mark Canha.
Hip injuries limited the infielder to barely two dozen games with the Bears. After graduation, Toboni attended Notre Dame to pursue an MBA, but his career trajectory changed after he did a summer internship with the A’s. He landed another internship with the Red Sox and then quickly moved up the ranks.
By age 30 Toboni had been promoted to director of amateur scouting, which saw him lead the drafts that landed many of the club’s current young standouts, most notably Roman Anthony and Marcelo Mayer. Several more promotions followed, and he even interviewed for the Red Sox’s chief baseball officer job that ultimately went to Breslow.
Toboni was also believed to be among the candidates to serve as Red Sox general manager, serving as the No. 2 under Breslow.
Toboni will have his work cut out for him in Washington.
The Nationals are wrapping up a disappointing season, entering Wednesday last in the NL East with a 65-94 record. In addition to Rizzo, the Nationals also fired longtime manager Dave Martinez as part of a larger house cleaning, so finding a new manager will be among the first orders of business for Toboni.
Washington does have a lot of promising young talent, most notably 23-year-old outfielder James Wood and 26-year-old right-hander MacKenzie Gore, both of whom were named All-Stars for the first time in their careers this summer. The Nationals also held the No. 1 overall selection in this year’s draft, taking 17-year-old infielder Eli Willits with the top pick.
The Boston Herald contributed to this report.
