The Washington Nationals revamped its coaching staff as new pitching coach Simon Matthews breaks down his decision to join the organization.
Led by Blake Butera, the youngest manager in baseball in over 50 years, the Washington Nationals have revamped its 2026 coaching staff led by a mix of college coaches getting a crack at the pros coupled with seasoned veterans moving on from other MLB teams. Of course, the Nationals will have a bit of consistency back with Sean Doolittle, previously announced as retained by president of baseball operations Paul Toboni, staying on as assistant pitching coach.
One new name to the staff is Simon Matthews, who is set for his first season in the organization.
A former Temple pitcher and Georgetown graduate who began his professional career with the Los Angeles Angels, Matthews transitioned to coaching where he began working at Driveline Baseball. It was then when Matthews met Doolittle, still a pitcher with the Nationals, to form a relationship that would set the stage for a move to Washington.
Matthews began his first stint as an MLB assistant where starting in 2021, he served as an instructor tasked with running the Cincinnati Reds' pitching development program in the Dominican Republic. In 2025, Matthews was officially promoted to Cincinnati's assistant pitching coach position. Sandwiched between that was a three-year stint as a business development specialist for G3 Group LLC, a company based out of Baltimore, but the chance to reunite with Doolittle a year later was one he wasn't willing to pass up.
“He trained with me when I worked at a facility called Push Performance in Arizona and he and I have stayed in touch over the years. He’s become just like a great pitching friend of mine in the industry. It’s been really cool to see him transition into coaching and it feels like every single conversation I have with him, he’s learned exponentially more and increased his skillset, so that’s been awesome.”
At Cincinnati, Matthews pointed to the ability to "put in some systems" that set the stage for Tony Santillan's dominant season, who finished 2025 with a 2.44 ERA in 80 appearances.
Matthews now takes over a pitching rotation missing its top ace after pulling the trigger on a MacKenzie Gore trade last week. While the starting rotation get an expected but slight boost back when Cade Cavalli agreed to terms as the last arbitration-eligible player earlier this month, Matthews is looking ahead at the chance to work with the young arms in hopes of strengthening the Nationals' pitching staff.
“Kind of this feeling that there was a ton of talent on this staff. Diving into guys like Cade Cavalli, Jake Irvin, Mitchell Parker. Watching [Seattle reliever] Jose Ferrar come out of the bullpen, slanging 100 mph sinkers from the left side. It’s a really exciting group from a young talent perspective, but there’s also a ton of guys coming up through the minor leagues that are really interesting and exciting in a lot of different ways. And I’m excited to see what this group can do to maximize those guys ability to get to the major league level and be ready to contribute.”