The Kansas City Royals have brought yet another good mind into their scouting department. Earlier this offseason they brought in Brian Bridges to be their Director of Amateur Scouting. This time around, the team has changed their focus to the International stage. Johnny DiPuglia, long with the Nationals organization, has joined the organization. The report was confirmed by a source on Tuesday. Although his official role isn’t known quite yet, he was the Nationals’ International Scouting Director before he resigned in early September.
The Royals have done their best to improve internationally in recent years. 2022 was a record class with the most signees in franchise history. 2023 was yet another strong class with promising upside. Some of those signees have already started moving up the farm system. Luinder Avila had a strong showing in Quad Cities last season. Emmanuel Reyes made the move to Low-A with mixed results but promising signs.
More lately, Ramon Ramirez has drawn hype. Prospects Live ranked him their top Royals prospect this offseason. Others, including Daniel Lopez, Erick Torres, and Asbel Gonzalez are still on their way. It’s been a welcome sign and a definite change from the more disappointing signings, such as Erick Peña. Peña struggled to a nearly 50% strikeout rate last season before landing on the development list.
In DiPuglia, the Royals will add a proven scouting mind with a history of success scouting international prospects. Before resigning in September, DiPuglia had been with the Nationals’ organization since 2009. Prior to that, he spent time with the Cardinals, Giants, and Red Sox. In his time with Boston, the team signed notable international prospects including Hanley Ramirez, Aníbal Sánchez, and Xander Bogaerts. With Washington, the largest success stories from DiPuglia’s team included Juan Soto and Victor Robles.
DiPuglia was successful in rebuilding the Washington International Operations essentially from scratch in 2009. He turned the program into a key cog in the Nationals’ 2019 World Series Championship. Soto, of course, is now one of the best players in the entire league. DiPuglia won’t have to rebuild Kansas City’s international operations from scratch, but should be an excellent addition to make them even more successful.