Paul Toboni continues to bring Driveline employees into the organization, this time hiring Travis Fitta
The Washington Nationals have had to make a lot of hires this offseason. There has been a pattern in the type of people they are bringing into the organization though. Most of the hires are young, analytically inclined people. One place where you can find a lot of those types of people is Driveline Baseball, so naturally the Nats have been raiding them.
Yesterday, Driveline hitting coordinator Travis Fitta announced he was joining the Nats organization as the Triple-A hitting coach. At Driveline, Fitta worked with many MLB hitters, trying to refine their swings. Now, he will be taking his skills to Rochester, where he will work with the Nats.
I usually don’t write about these minor league hires, but this is a very exciting development. Fitta is a very sharp mind, who I know a bit about. This also continues a trend of the Nats poaching from Driveline. There are multiple people on the Nats MLB staff who have a history with Driveline.
Most notably, the Nats hired assistant hitting coach Andrew Aydt directly from Driveline, where he was the assistant director of hitting. He also seems like a very sharp guy. Still in his 20’s, Aydt is on the cutting edge of hitter development. I am very excited to see the Nats try to innovate, rather than catch up.
Fitta will be part of this innovative group. Based on the content that is out there, Fitta seems like an expert in swing design and optimizing how hitters use their body. There are certainly hitters in the Nats organization with meat on the bone when it comes to swing mechanics, and Fitta can help them.
One player who I think Fitta can really help is Yohandy Morales. In just about every scouting report I see on Morales, there is a note about how his swing needs tweaks. Assuming he starts the season in AAA, he will get the chance to work with Fitta everyday and fine tune that swing. Morales has the raw power, but he needs to find a way to get the ball off of the ground.
Interestingly, Fitta has some experience working with Nationals players. This offseason, there was a video about the work he did with Jacob Young. He was working to help Young translate his natural athleticism into a better swing. It was actually a very interesting video to watch.
Seeing Fitta in the lab makes me very bullish about this hire. Usually, the Triple-A hitting coach hire is not very flashy, but this is a little bit different. It really seems like the Nats got a star here.
Young is also not the only Nat Fitta has worked with. He is not on the team anymore, but Amed Rosario had a really nice half season in DC. His batted ball data was much improved in 2025. This came after working with Fitta for an offseason.
Paul Toboni and the new Nats regime is all in on creating a player development monster. Hires like Travis Fitta are an example of that commitment. The organization is taking some of the brightest minds from other franchises, college teams and even outside institutions, and bringing them here.
This is the sort of thing I have wanted the Nats to do for years, and it is finally happening. Progress at the big league level will not come overnight. However, I have faith that Paul Toboni will produce a pipeline of young talent which will make the Nats a force in the next couple of years. Travis Fitta is ju
Category: General Sports
