Bill Duplissea (baseball)

William Joseph Duplissea (born September 27, 1977)[1] is an American baseball coach and former player who is the advance scouting/replay coordinator for the Kansas City Royals in Major League Baseball. He was previously the Royals' bullpen catcher and played baseball in the Los Angeles Dodgers' minor league system.

External photo
image icon Bill Duplissea (2017)

Career

Duplissea was born in San Carlos, California.[2] He attended college and played baseball at the College of San Mateo and the University of California, Santa Barbara.[1] At the latter, he was named as a conference All-Big West Baseball Team honorable mention in 1999.[3] While still in college, Duplissea was drafted in the 39th round of the 1997 Major League Baseball draft by the Baltimore Orioles,[1][4] but did not sign.[5]

After college, Duplissea signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He played in their minor league development system for five seasons beginning in 1999, reaching as high as Triple-A.[4] He never broke into the major leagues and retired after playing in seven Double-A games in 2003.[1][6]

After leaving the minor leagues, Duplissea coached at the junior college level for about three years. In 2006, he became the bullpen catcher for the Kansas City Royals.[6] The career move was offered to him by Bob McClure, his baseball coach at the College of San Mateo who had since become the Royals' pitching coach.[7] He remained in the role until 2012, when he moved into advance scouting for the Royals.[4]

In 2014, the Royals added to Duplissea's advance scouting duties by making him the team's replay coordinator.[4] The move came after the introduction of managerial challenges to the sport.[6][8] During games, Duplissea's role is to stay in the team clubhouse, watch the game's film in real time, and alert the Royals' coaching staff when an umpire's ruling could be overturned with a challenge.[2][4] As of 2023, Duplissea remains in both roles.[6][9]

Replay coordinator

Duplissea is best known for being highly skilled in the replay coordinator role. Between 2014 and 2022, the Royals successfully overturned calls on 65.7% of challenges, outranking every other team in baseball.[6] In Duplissea's first season as replay coordinator, then-Royals manager Ned Yost commended Duplissea's work to the Associated Press. "We got a real good video analyst", he said. "Very seldom does he ever make a mistake".[10]

The Kansas City Star said Duplissea had "the best eyes in baseball" near the end of the 2017 season, at which time the Royals were statistically the most successful team at challenging calls (having been successful in 22 of their 30 attempts).[8] They had also led the league in the same category in 2016.[8][11] In 2018, The Athletic posited that Duplissea might be the most valuable member of the 2018 Royals team, ahead of any of the team's players. "There is nobody in baseball better at looking at an instant replay and judging when to challenge an umpire's call", reporter Rustin Dodd wrote.[4]

References
  1. "Bill Duplissea Minor Leagues Statistics". Baseball-Reference. Archived from the original on May 16, 2020. Retrieved September 27, 2023.
  2. Galloway, Matt (August 18, 2015). "Upon review, replay duties proving no challenge for Royals' Bill Duplissea". The Topeka Capital-Journal. Archived from the original on September 27, 2023. Retrieved September 27, 2023.
  3. "Baseball All-Big West Team". The Big West. Archived from the original on September 27, 2023. Retrieved September 27, 2023.
  4. Dodd, Rustin (September 26, 2018). "Meet the Royals' Bill Duplissea, the best replay coordinator in baseball". The Athletic. Archived from the original on July 9, 2019. Retrieved September 27, 2023.
  5. "39th Round of the 1997 MLB June Amateur Draft". Baseball-Reference. Archived from the original on September 27, 2023. Retrieved September 27, 2023.
  6. Rogers, Anne (June 15, 2023). "The face behind Royals' replay review success". MLB.com. Archived from the original on June 16, 2023. Retrieved September 27, 2023.
  7. "Royals' coach McClure pride of County baseball". East Bay Times. August 22, 2007. Archived from the original on April 22, 2023. Retrieved September 27, 2023.
  8. Dodd, Rustin (September 17, 2017). "The Royals remain the best at questioning umpires. Here's their secret". Kansas City Star. Archived from the original on May 14, 2019. Retrieved September 27, 2023.
  9. "Bill Duplissea - Advance Scouting/Replay Coordinator". Kansas City Royals/MLB.com. Archived from the original on September 27, 2023. Retrieved September 27, 2023.
  10. "Playoff managers hit, miss on contesting calls". The Daily Press. Associated Press. October 2, 2014. Archived from the original on September 27, 2023. Retrieved September 27, 2023.
  11. Flanagan, Jeffrey (April 16, 2017). "Royals pace Majors in instant replay success". MLB.com. Archived from the original on October 4, 2023. Retrieved September 29, 2023.
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