WASHINGTON (AP) — Ani Kilambi is joining the Nationals as their new general manager, a person with knowledge of the move told The Associated Press on Wednesday, making the 31-year-old who had been with the Philadelphia Phillies the latest young face to join president of baseball operations Paul Toboni in Washington.

The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because Kilambi's hiring had not been announced yet.

The news was first reported by ESPN.

Kilambi has been an assistant general manager for the Phillies, working with that club since 2021.

Before that, he was with the Tampa Bay Rays for more than five years.

Kilambi takes over a job that was held for more than a decade and a half by Mike Rizzo, who became the GM in Washington in 2009 and added the title of president of baseball operations in 2013. Rizzo was fired in July during the Nationals' sixth consecutive losing season. Manager Dave Martinez also was fired then.

Rizzo and Martinez were in charge in 2019 when the Nationals won the World Series, but the team hasn't had a winning year since. Washington went 66-96 in 2025, putting it 14th out of 15 clubs in the National League.

Mike DeBartolo took over as interim GM after Rizzo was let go and oversaw the selection of 17-year-old high school shortstop Eli Willits with the No. 1 pick in Major League Baseball’s amateur draft in July.

Toboni, 35, then was hired in late September to run the Nationals; he had been an assistant GM with the Boston Red Sox. He brought in manager Blake Butera, who at 33 became the youngest skipper in the majors since the 1970s.

There is plenty of work to be done to turn around the Nationals, who are in need of plenty of talent and depth as they try to replenish their major league roster and minor league supply of prospects.

Toboni's first move in free agency came Monday, when Washington agreed to terms with left-handed pitcher Foster Griffin on a $5.5 million, one-year contract, pending the successful completion of a physical exam. Griffin played in Japan the past three seasons.

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Aryna Sabalenka won her second consecutive WTA Tour Player of the Year award on Monday, getting nearly 80% of the vote from a media panel after winning the U.S. Open, reaching the finals of two other Grand Slam tournaments and closing the season at No. 1 in the rankings.

Sabalenka joined Serena Williams and Iga Swiatek as back-to-back winners of the honor over the past 25 years.

Sabalenka, a 27-year-old from Belarus, led women's tennis in match victories (going 63-12), titles (four) and finals reached (nine) in 2025 and set a tour record by earning $15 million in prize money. She spent the entire year at No. 1.

At the majors, Sabalenka was the runner-up to Madison Keys at the Australian Open in January and to Coco Gauff at the French Open in June, made it to the semifinals at Wimbledon in July before losing to Amanda Anisimova and collected her fourth career Grand Slam singles trophy with a successful title defense at the U.S. Open in September, defeating Anisimova in the final.

Anisimova was selected as Most Improved Player after making it to her first two Grand Slam finals at the All England Club — where she was the runner-up to Swiatek — and Flushing Meadows. She reached three other finals, including claiming WTA 1000 titles in Doha and Beijing.

The 24-year-old from the United States ended 2024 at No. 36 in the rankings and, after making her top-10 debut, rose all the way to No. 4 at the end of this season. Anisimova also was nominated as Player of the Year.

This season capped quite a climb for Anisimova, who took time off in 2023, saying she had been “ struggling with my mental health ” for nearly a year.

Other award recipients Monday included Vicky Mboko as Newcomer of the Year, Belinda Bencic as Comeback Player of the Year, and Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend as Doubles Team of the Year.

Mboko, a 19-year-old from Canada, lifted her ranking from outside the top 300 to inside the top 20 with a season that included a WTA 1000 trophy in Montreal by beating four Grand Slam singles champions.

Bencic was away from the tour for more than a year while having her first child, then won two titles in 2025 and reached the semifinals at Wimbledon for the first time — her first appearance in the final four of a major since 2019.

Siniakova and Townsend won the Australian Open and were the runners-up at the U.S. Open.

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Howard Fendrich has been the AP’s tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: https://apnews.com/author/howard-fendrich. More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis