Nationals president of baseball operations Paul Toboni wasn’t necessarily pursuing a general manager. Anirudh Kilambi wasn’t looking to leave the Phillies' front office. But the two clicked when they connected, and just over two weeks later, the Nationals named Kilambi general manager.
“I think like many aspects of this job, things can change and things can be unpredictable,” Toboni said on Friday in a Zoom call with local reporters. “Not only can things change, but they can change quickly.”
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.
“This happened really, really fast,” Kilambi said. “My first reaction was that I wasn’t dying to leave the Phillies. The Phillies have a tremendous organization; they’ve been really good to me and are building something great. But at the same time, as I learned more about the Nationals organization, and as I got the opportunity to speak both with folks within the organization and with folks I know in the industry who know folks who work here, I became drawn to the vision that Paul has proposed and to the group of folks that has been assembled here.
“Over the last two weeks, I had the opportunity to have a ton of conversations, do a ton of vetting, and that made me super excited about the trajectory of the organization and the challenge ahead.”
Kilambi joined 35-year-old Paul Toboni, who was hired this fall as president of baseball operations, at the helm of a Nationals team that also includes 33-year-old manager Blake Butera. The Nats have the youngest president of baseball operations, GM and manager of any Major League team.
“The more I thought about it, the more I think the best leaders don’t just create change -- they accelerate change at a high pace,” Toboni said. “And the more I reflected on it, we could’ve waited a year or evaluated for a year, but that wouldn’t have allowed for us to push forward at the rate that we would’ve wanted to in year one. And year one’s a really important year.
“Ani, in many ways, helps us with that, and obviously he’s going to help us way beyond that first year. I think that’s probably the main thing. And then it’s worth noting ... I was very comfortable keeping this vacant if we didn’t come onto the right fit. Ani just happens to be an exceptional fit for us.”
Kilambi has been a rising bright mind in baseball for over a decade with the Phillies and Rays. With Kilambi on their staff, Tampa Bay and Philadelphia made seven straight playoff appearances, including two trips to the World Series (Rays in 2020 and Phillies in 2022). The Nationals finished 66-96 in ‘25, and they are looking for their first winning season since capturing the World Series title in ‘19.
“I’m naturally very competitive -- some might argue unhealthily so,” said Kilmabi. “But at the same time, baseball has a way of putting fuel on that fire. Over the last few years, I’ve been really fortunate to be a part of organizations that have made the postseason and made the World Series twice. But I’ve not been a part of a World Series-winning club, I’ve been disappointed seven years in a row, and that in and of itself creates a pretty deep burning desire to do better.”
Kilambi began with seven years with Tampa Bay, 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.
“I think there are a lot of really intelligent folks that struggle creating influence because they lack humility or maybe they fail to see the other side of an argument,” said Toboni. “But Ani’s a great listener and someone that I think will do a great job relationship building, building trust in really all corners of the operation. That will lead to really trustworthy relationships, which will eventually lead to great collaboration.”
Toboni described the Nationals' front office dynamic as he and Kilmabi being “extensions of each other.” Both will be involved in “all facets” of baseball operations and work toward a shared vision.
“As it relates to the role that Ani is in, at a high level, it probably starts with being a key voice to the long-term strategy of the organization,” Toboni said. “Underpinning that is doing the work to make sure that the structure is there -- whether it’s staff or process building, whatever it might be -- to deliver on that long-term strategy, whether that’s acquisitions or development or any of the areas. ... It’ll be anything and everything.”
Kilambi and Toboni both graduated from UC Berkeley, where Kilambi double majored in statistics and operations research and management science in 2016. Although they didn’t know each other from school and only met a few years ago at GM Meetings, they bonded over far more than their alma mater.
“We’re immensely optimistic, both about the cultural alignment that we’re going to be able to build throughout the organization and our trajectory on evaluating and developing players,” said Kilambi. “I think one thing that was clear throughout the interview process was how aligned Paul and I are on culture, organizational dynamics and decision-making. We’re super excited to take this next step together.”