Jonathan Tosches doesn’t see what he did as any big deal. A Sports Illustrated article from October 30, 2019, credits him with saving the World Series for the Washington Nationals. As far as Jonathan’s concerned, that couldn’t be further from the truth.
During game six of the series, he noticed something on the monitor, something that pitcher Stephen Strasburg was doing that was cluing in the Huston Astros batters as to what was coming next. Jonathan’s tip-off to pitching coach Paul Menhart meant Strasburg could shift his style and keep the batters in the dark. But to Jonathan, what he did was what he was supposed to do. That it helped lead to the Nationals winning their first World Series, and Jonathan, as a member of the front office team, to getting a World Series ring in April, was a great outcome of simply doing his job.
“We made an adjustment in the game, and then we won the World Series,” he said from spring training in West Palm Beach, Florida. You could almost hear him shrug over the phone from 1300 miles away.
For Jonathan, baseball is in his blood. His father, Paul calls himself a “broken-down ballplayer.” Like his son, Paul played for Hopedale High, and then Worcester State College back in the day. Paul and wife LuAnn raised their kids while going from game to game as their other son, Mark, played baseball and soccer, and their daughter Julie played field hockey. The Tosches kids tended to be on the winning side – Julie’s HHS team was the 1993 state champions, and Jonathan played on the basketball team that went to the state finals in 1999.
LuAnn Tosches couldn’t be prouder of Jonathan. “He’s my baby,” she said, laughing that she should stop praising her modest son before the other kids become jealous. “He knows everybody, and everybody likes him. He can talk to the devil and make him laugh.”
Jonathan graduated from Hopedale High in 2000 expecting to play college baseball, but that didn’t work out. Instead, he received a financial degree and got a job in that field, living the single life in Boston and enjoying himself. But it wasn’t enough. “He came home from work one day and said, ‘I’m quitting my job,’” LuAnn said. Jonathan was accepted to the prestigious Sport Management program at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and began working his way up in a different field – baseball.
Unlike most occupations, there is a limit to how many jobs there are in professional sports, particularly baseball. “If you want to work in the major leagues, there are only 30 employers,” Jonathan pointed out. He had to start his experience at the bottom. But working in professional baseball isn’t just about moving from job to job – the job itself involves a lot of moving.
“You have to be willing to travel anywhere or move anywhere,” Jonathan explained, noting that when he first began his career he had 15 apartments in just a few years. After 11 years with the Nationals, his life is pretty stable, but the job still involves a lot of travel – fifty days of spring training, followed by a full schedule of games lasting at least six months. That’s hundreds of days on the road.
Jonathan’s job is not routine. He worked his way up to become the National’s Manager of Advance Scouting. That’s another way to saying he watches the competition, either live or on video, to learn the players’ strengths and weaknesses. His eagle-eye and knowledge of the sport allows his team to prepare strategy for upcoming games.
“I knew I had a strength, and that was understanding baseball. But I didn’t know how I was going to use that,” he said. Obviously, that strength gave him the insight to see the issues during the World Series. Simple adjustments helped the team win in the end.
Jonathan is living his dream, but that dream recently got sweeter. Last January, just before the start of spring training, he and his wife Katie welcomed twin sons, Charlie and Tedy. The boys were born on January 29, and Jonathan was off to Florida two weeks later. LuAnn traveled to the couple’s home in South Carolina to help out, but Jonathan says it’s Katie who bears the brunt of the parenting.
“My wife really is a rock star,” he says. He credits the family atmosphere in professional baseball for helping her to cope when he’s away. Having internet connections like Face Time and Nest helps him check in with his family, making life on the road easier. This year, Katie and the boys will travel to Florida to visit their dad at least a few times before opening day. “We’re all in it together,” Jonathan said.
In fact, Charlie and Tedy rode in their first World Series parade last fall, not even fathoming what was going on. Jonathan realizes how lucky he is. “A lot of people have been in this sport for decades and never won a World Series. I don’t take it for granted.” But he also knows having parents who supported his childhood sports dreams helped lead him to where he is today. “In a way, my whole family won the World Series.”
Issue Date:
March, 2020
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