Former Nationals executive, who helped sign Juan Soto, set to join Kansas City Royals

Former Washington Nationals international scouting director   has accepted a position with the Kansas City Royals, he confirmed to The Star in a social media message Tuesday. The move was first reported in a post from The Nats Report. DiPuglia did not state what his official title will be, nor have the Royals officially announced or confirmed the move at this time, but the Royals appear set to bring on a new staff member with experience helping build a World Series champion. DiPuglia held multiple roles within the Nationals organization. He oversaw the Nationals’ international operations and also served as vice president and assistant general manager following the 2019 World Series.

In a USA TODAY story in September, MLB reporter Bob Nightengale said of DiPuglia: “He’s a huge star in the international scouting world and will have teams frantically bidding for his services.” Nightengale also called DiPuglia’s departure “a huge blow to the Nats.” In his Nationals tenure, DiPuglia helped sign multiple international free agents. Most notably, DiPuglia had an instrumental role in signing three-time All-Star Juan Soto and outfielder Victor Robles. DiPuglia joined the Nationals in 2009. His previous stints include time with the St. Louis Cardinals, San Francisco Giants and Boston Red Sox. DiPuglia was the Latin America scouting director with the Red Sox. He helped sign former MLB star Hanley Ramirez and shortstop Xander Boegarts.

In 2019, DiPuglia was also named Major League Baseball’s international scout of the year. DiPuglia resigned from his Nationals position in September. The Royals made significant changes to their scouting department last season. KC hired Brian Bridges as their new director of amateur scouting. He took over for Danny Ontiveros, who was promoted to vice president of scouting. Additionally, the Royals promoted Jim Cuthbert to director of pro personnel and strategy. Daniel Guerrero was also elevated to director of international scouting.

DiPuglia will have some familiarity with the Royals. He worked alongside Cuthbert and Guerrero in the Nationals organization. Cuthbert worked for the Nationals from 2018-2020 as a major league advance scout. Meanwhile, Guerrero was a player development and baseball operations intern with the Nationals in 2017.