Manny Acta, Manager, Washington Nationals

December 16, 2006 @ 16:00:00

By Chris Kolb
Edited by Ryan Dodson

On Nov. 15, 2006, the Washington Nationals announced they hired Manny Acta to be their manager. The move was somewhat of a surprise to insiders around Major League Baseball, as Acta came into the position as a relative unknown. Acta has no previous experience as a manager in the MLB, yet the Nationals were impressed enough to offer him the job after their previous manager, Hall of Famer Frank Robinson, stepped down at the end of the 2006 season.

Acta was a player for a short time in the Houston Astros organization. However he never reached the major leagues, playing in the Astros farm system for six seasons, before becoming a manager at the A-level of minor league baseball in 1993. Acta spent the next nine seasons managing at that level before taking the position of third base coach with the Montreal Expos. He spent his next three seasons there before moving on to be the third base coach for the New York Mets in 2005.

Acta is almost a polar opposite of Robinson, in that he is one of the youngest managers in the MLB (37 years old); whereas Robinson was one of the oldest managers in the big leagues at 71 years old. Acta is an outgoing and amicable coach and does not have any issues with addressing players, coaches or the media. Robinson, on the other hand, appeared to be hesitant at times in dealing with the media, and although he was a popular coach among the players on the club, Robinson seemed to be out of touch at times with them, which led to a perceived lack of motivation down the stretch of the season.

Despite losing their superstar slugger, outfielder Alfonso Soriano, to the Chicago Cubs via free agency, the Nationals have a talented team and needed to hire a manager who has the ability to relate to the young ballplayers and motivate them to play together and be successful. In that regard, Acta could be just the type of manager the young and talented Nationals team needs, which is exactly what the Nationals' ownership and management hope will occur.

Table: Manny Acta's Managerial Record

Year	Team	League	Record	Finish	Organization
1993	Auburn Astros	New York-Penn	30-46	14th	Houston Astros
1994	Auburn Astros	New York-Penn	45-31	2nd	Houston Astros
1995	Auburn Astros	New York-Penn	40-34	5th	Houston Astros
1996	Auburn Doubledays	New York-Penn	37-39	8th	Houston Astros
1997	Quad City River Bandits	Midwest	59-75	13th	Houston Astros
1998	Kissimmee Cobras	Florida State	64-75	12th	Houston Astros
1999	Kissimmee Cobras	Florida State	71-66	6th	Houston Astros
2000	Kissimmee Cobras	Florida State	73-66	6th	Houston Astros

While Acta's managerial experience within the Houston Astros minor league organization does not exactly stand out, he was also the manager for the Dominican Republic during the 2006 World Baseball Classic, and led them to an impressive fourth-place finish behind South Korea, Cuba and WBC Champion Japan.

In terms of fantasy league production, Acta's players should put up solid numbers across the board, as Acta has an uncanny ability to motivate his players to perform in clutch situations. It's difficult to predict exactly what kind of numbers his players will put up this season, as Acta has no major league management experience, however Acta is known as a sound fundamentals kind of coach, which should translate into both offensive and defensive success. His players will be expected to understand specific hitting situations and how to respond to each, which could pose problems early on in the season but could pay off big time down the stretch.

While Acta has not had any managerial experience in the MLB, he has worked with a large amount of talented players with both the Expos and the Mets. As third base coach for both teams, Acta played a large role in the amount of runs scored for the teams, by deciding when to hold a player at third base or when to send a player on to home plate. As third base coach he also was responsible for sending in the manager's signals to both the current hitter and any player on base, which gave him the opportunity to forge strong relationships with his team's players. With that being said, Acta should be able to translate those relationship-building skills to his new team in Washington, which will only help his players feel comfortable under Acta's leadership of the team.

All in all, Acta is definitely a great choice to lead the Nationals in the years to come. While, he wasn't the biggest name on the market or the most experienced manager available, the abilities that he brings to the table are exactly what this franchise needs to succeed in a tough National League East Division. He will without doubt motivate his players to play up to their individual talent level in every single game, and will not allow his team's youth and inexperience to serve as excuses for a poor performance any longer. It's safe to say that we can expect big things from this franchise in the future, especially with Acta at the helm.

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Chris Kolb
Chris Kolb has been a KFFL contributor since 2006.

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