Nationals announce additions and promotions within scouting staff

The Washington Nationals today announced additions and promotions within their Major League and amateur scouting departments. President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Mike Rizzo made the announcements. The Nationals hired Mike Cubbage and Terry Wetzel as Special Assistants to the President of Baseball Operations and General Manager. In a continued expansion of their amateur scouting operation, the Nationals added Brandon Larson and Scott Ramsay, who take over newly created scouting territories within the United States. Justin Bloxom, Buddy Hernandez and Steve Leavitt were hired to scout existing territories. Cubbage comes to the Nationals from the Tampa Bay Rays, where he served as a Special Assistant to the General Manager and Major League Scout for the previous nine seasons (2006-14). He is a native of Charlottesville, VA and attended the University of Virginia before being drafted in the second round of the 1971 Draft by the Washington Senators. Cubbage played parts of eight Major League seasons with the Texas Rangers (1974-76), Minnesota Twins (1976-80) and New York Mets (1981). Following his playing career, Cubbage went on to manage in the Mets system from 1983-1991 and served as interim manager of the big league club for seven games in 1991. He spent seven seasons as New York's third base coach before serving as Houston's third base coach for four seasons (1997-2000), and later as its bench coach for one season (2001). From 2002-03, Cubbage served as the Boston Red Sox third base coach. He moved to Tampa Bay's front office in 2006, where he was integral in their development into a perennial contender. Wetzel comes to the Washington Nationals after spending the previous 15 seasons as a Special Assignment Scout for the Colorado Rockies. He began his scouting career in 1984 as a part-time scout with the Kansas City Royals, where he would spend the next 17 seasons, eventually rising to the level of Senior Director of Scouting in 1997. Over his 31-year scouting career, the 55-year-old Wetzel has been honored with several scouting awards, including the 1994 Kansas City Royals' Ewing M. Kauffman Scout of the Year Award, the 2000 Topps Scout of the Year Award, and the 2003 Colorado Rockies' Pat Daugherty Scout of the Year Award. Wetzel was inducted into the Texas Baseball Hall of Fame in 2011 and is a member of the USA Baseball Selection Committee. Larson and Ramsay were hired to newly created positions within the amateur scouting department. Larson, the 14th overall pick in the 1997 First-Year Player Draft by Cincinnati, will cover Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska. Ramsay came to the Nationals from the Kansas City Royals. He will cover Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming. Bloxom was selected by the Nationals in the 11th round of the 2009 First-Year Player Draft out of Kansas State University and played six seasons in the Nationals' chain. He was hired to scout amateur players in Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee. Leavitt and Hernandez came to the Nationals from the Atlanta Braves. Leavitt will cover Central and Southern California, while Hernandez will scout Central and Northern Florida. In addition, the Nationals promoted Eddie Longosz to Assistant Director of Scouting Operations, where he will continue to support Mike Rizzo and Assistant General Manager and VP of Scouting Operations Kris Kline to organize the Nationals scouting operations. Longosz is in his fifth season with the Nationals. These additions and promotions come on the heels of the recent expansion of the Baseball Research & Development department. Adam Cromie (Assistant GM & Director, Baseball Operations), Sam Mondry-Cohen (Director, Baseball Research & Development), Michael DeBartolo (Manager, Baseball Research & Development) were promoted to new roles, while Josh Weinstock (Analyst, Baseball Research & Development) was added to the staff.