In early November, the Washington Nationals “…announced the promotion of Eddie Longosz to executive vice president and assistant general manager for player development and administration.”
Longos, 37 and in his 14th year with the organization, “was promoted to this role after serving as Washington’s director of scouting operations for the past eight years,” the club said in a press release about the promotion.
“He was promoted from assistant director after the 2015 season.
“In that role, Longos [GM and President of Baseball Ops] Mike Rizzo talks about all aspects of Washington’s amateur, professional and international scouting efforts. ”
“Eddie Longos has been an integral part of our organization’s success for the past 14 years,” Rizzo said in a press release.
“He is a tireless worker and has extensive knowledge of minor league players, coaches, and the entire system. We are trusted. Beyond his support for our draft operations, his expertise in emerging technologies and analytics will enhance our processes and further increase our efficiency.”
“Eddie is highly respected around the league,” the Nats GM added. “And we couldn’t be more pleased to have him lead our player development system.”
“Going into my 14th season, the transition from scouting to player development was a little bittersweet,” Longosz admitted when speaking to reporters at the Winter Meetings in December.
“But when this story came up, the former farm manager and a few others said, ‘You have to do this. It’s good for you, it’s good for your career, it’s bad for your resume. It’s going to be a great opportunity for me and for the organization.” So I got excited and did the interview, and it went really well. [Rizzo] And some of the other guys, and I always — in scouting, the day the draft is over, you move on to the next year, and I was always upset that I didn’t really build relationships with the players. And now I can run that component. You will definitely like it very much. ”
When Rizzo spoke at the winter meetings, he detailed why he wants his former scout in general and Longosz in particular to take over as farm director.
“I always want the farm director to be the evaluator,” Rizzo explained. They have to understand the players, they have to be evaluators, because they’re moving the players up and down, switching arm angles, deliveries, things like that, so that’s one thing. ”
Longosz has that kind of scouting background, he continued.
He joined the organization in 2010 and “…became a full-time scouting assistant in 2011, serving in that role for four seasons before being promoted to assistant director of scouting operations in 2015.”
“To me, he’s an innovator,” Rizzo said.
“He’s a great communicator and a great motivator. I think he speaks baseball terminology really well, but he also knows the analytical side of baseball, and he speaks those two things in a language that the players understand.” And he’s a likeable guy. He’s a likeable guy and gets along with a lot of people. But he’s smart.”
Longosz spoke about how he has become accustomed to the analytical side of scouting over the past few years and how he handles the balance between old and new approaches to player development.
“Mix. Totally. It’s going to be a big collaboration,” Longosz said.
“We started our strategy and technology group basically two years ago, so it’s new for all of us, but we’ve done a lot of things: TrackMan, Hawkeye, Rapsodo, edgetronic cameras. , they just added a force plate, so we’re on the right track. That team has done a really great job of partnering with their biomechanics team to plan their plays both during the season and throughout the offseason. So I’m really excited about that and the players are buying in and they want this information and that’s the key because you have to earn their trust and they want this to work. Because that’s what we want to do. But it’s also going to be a blend of traditional batting and traditional pitching philosophies, so it’s going to be a group effort and that’s going to be great.”
Nationals News and Notes: Eddie Longos promotion and other Nationals related…
“Eddie is highly respected around the league and we couldn’t be more pleased to have him lead our player development system.” – GM Mike Rizzo: https://t.co/eYHto9TmVO
— Federal Baseball (@federalbaseball) November 8, 2023
The setup under Longos has changed dramatically since the club began its reorganization at the 2021 trade deadline, and Longos is excited to take the reins.
“First of all, it’s the position players,” he said.
“You know, we have a lot of really good outfielders, infielders, young talent. A lot of them are homegrown and obviously we’ve made some trades. But they’re all They’re great players, they’re great people, and that’s important to me, character speaks volumes and they’re all really great on and off the field.”
“We have good weapons too,” he added. “Obviously some of them, like Jake Bennett getting injured, [Jarlin] Susanna, what don’t you like about him? I’m really looking forward to it. We’re in a really good position and getting close to a winning system, so I’m looking forward to that. ”
Rizzo said she is excited about what she has seen in Longosz’s growth during their time together and hopes to see Longosz continue to grow in his new role.
“I spoke with [Senior Advisor, Player Development] Dave Jooss,” Rizzo said. [he] It said [Pirates’ GM] Ben Cherington became a farm director and has gone on to become a great GM, many of whom share the same traits as Eddie. ”