Nats hire Phillies assistant GM Anirudh Kilambi as general manager

The Nationals continue to revamp their front office with the hiring of a new general manager.

The Nats on Thursday announced they have hired 31-year-old Anirudh Kilambi to be their GM.

Kilambi comes to the Nationals from his role as the Phillies' assistant general manager for the past four years, where he oversaw Philadelphia's research and development, its use of data in all aspects of organizational decision-making and was a key influence in their pro evaluation and strategy. Kilambi will join 35-year-old Paul Toboni, who was hired this fall as president of baseball operations, at the helm of a young Nationals team that also includes 33-year-old manager Blake Butera.

“Ani has earned a reputation around the industry as one of the brightest front office minds in the game,” Toboni said in a team announcement. “He’s not only a sharp and strategic leader who is a great communicator, but he is also thoughtful and humble and aligns with our values. Ani is an excellent complement to the leadership group we have in place, both in terms of his past experiences and who he is as a person.”

Kilambi has been a rising bright mind in baseball for over a decade with the Phillies and Rays. With Kilambi on their staff, Tampa and Philadelphia made seven straight playoff appearances, including the Rays in the 2020 World Series and the Phillies in ‘22.

“I would like to thank the Lerner, Cohen and Tanenbaum families for trusting our front office to be the stewards of a new era of Nationals baseball, and Paul Toboni for giving me the opportunity to share in his vision,” Kilambi said. “Our goal is to be the highest performing organization in baseball. To do so, we aim to exemplify our core values of joy, humility, integrity and competitiveness, while displaying sharp eyes for talent and best-in-class player development. I’m excited to call Washington, D.C. my home and cannot wait to get started.”

Kilambi began with seven years with Tampa, the organization with whom Butera also worked. He ascended from an intern in the Rays’ baseball research and development department (2015) to an assistant in research and development (‘16-17), an analyst in predictive modeling in baseball research and development (‘17-18), assistant director of baseball research and development (‘18-21) and director of decision science (‘21). Kilambi was then hired by the Phillies in November 2021.

MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki wrote of Kilambi in 2022:

"The Phillies hired Kilambi, 28, in November to be an assistant general manager in charge of the club’s research departments and the club’s use of data throughout the organization. It was a noteworthy hire. Kilambi spent the past seven seasons with the Rays, who are the envy of nearly every organization for their ability to build championship-caliber rosters on shoestring budgets because of an exceptional research and development department. Rays executives often cited Kilambi last season as they churned through waves of relief pitchers to build a formidable bullpen on their way to the AL pennant."

A 2016 graduate of UC Berkeley, Kilambi double majored in statistics and operations research and management science.