Washington Nationals Hire Red Sox Pitching Assistant

The Washington Nationals previously announced that its full 12-man coaching staff is expected to return ahead of year two under manager Blake Butera, yet the organization is also reportedly adding to the pitching staff in 2027.

Former Boston Red Sox assistant David Besky is expected to join the Nationals' organization as the team's pitching strategist on the major league staff. Sean Doolittle, who was retained by the new admin, is also expected to remain in his role as assistant pitching coach after previously serving as a pitching strategist.

Besky joins the organization after serving as the Red Sox' director of baseball sciences since Dec. 2024. He first joined the organization as the player development coordinator where he served in the role for one year before being promoted to assistant director of player development. This marked his first coaching job in the MLB after spending the prior 3.5 seasons with Driveline Baseball Enterprises, Inc. He first joined the organization as a business associate and research analyst in Sept. 2019 before moving on to a data scientist role, then coordinator of player development analytics and pitching trainer. He most recently served as the principal data scientist for four months before moving on to the Red Sox organization.

Besky also suited up himself after spending three seasons as a pitcher at St. Olaf College. After not appearing in a game during his first season in 2017, Besky appeared in two games the following season where he struck out in one of his two at bats as a hitter, yet failed to make an appearance as a pitcher until the 2019 season. It was then when he appeared in two games as a pitcher, allowing one hit, three walks and one strikeout across three combined innings.

The newest hire is now set to join the organization and reunite with Paul Toboni, who left the Red Sox organization to become the new president of baseball operations following the 2025 season. It also comes as the Red Sox are expected to work through a hiring freeze in the baseball operations department this offseason, a growingly common move with teams bracing for the ongoing CBA negotiations into the offseason.

The reinforcement to the coaching staff marks a welcomed development for a front office tasked with upgrading the pitching given it marked undoubtedly the biggest weakness in year one under Butera, evidenced by the Nationals' comfortably setting the MLB record for the most blown saves in a regular season.