Mike DeBartolo

Michael DeBartolo

• School Tufts University, Columbia University

Biographical Information

Mike DeBartolo was first hired by the Washington Nationals as an intern in 2012. He worked his way up the organizational ladder over the following years. He had a background in analytics, as he worked for Cambridge Associates, a consulting firm, before joining the Nationals. He held positions including Baseball Operations Assistant, Manager of Baseball Research and Development, and Director of Baseball Operations. During that time he became a trusted confidant of General Manager Mike Rizzo, being at his side when the Nationals won the 2019 World Series, after having been named Assistant General Manager before that season.

The Nationals went through some lean years following their World Series win, but DeBartolo continued to rise within the organization, being named Vice-President in 2021 and Senior Vice-President after the 2024 season. There was a lot of optimism heading into the 2025 season, as the team now had a number of very promising youngsters on hand, and had also won the lottery for the first overall pick in the 2025 amateur draft. They played well through the first two months, hanging around .500, but went into a tailspin in June, falling back into last place. On July 6th, his mentor Rizzo and long-time manager Dave Martinez paid the price, both being fired on the same day. Mike was promoted to interim General Manager, with two big decisions to make in the coming days: find a replacement for Martinez, and put that number 1 pick to good use. For the first matter, he settled on bench coach Miguel Cairo to take over as interim manager, the announcement being made on July 7th.

Preceded by Mike Rizzo

Washington Nationals General Manager 2025-

Succeeded by current

Further Reading

• Jessica Camerato: "Nats part ways with manager Dave Martinez, GM Mike Rizzo", mlb.com, July 6, 2025. [1]
• Daniel Chavkin (The Sporting News): "Who is Mike DeBartolo? Meet Nationals interim GM set to make first overall pick in 2025 MLB draft", Yahoo! Sports, July 7, 2025. [2]