Nats promote pair to assistant GM positions

December 18th, 2019

The Nationals on Wednesday announced the promotions of two key executives in their scouting and player development departments, elevating veteran farm director Mark Scialabba and Johnny DiPuglia to assistant general manager positions.

A 15-year veteran of the Nats’ front office, Scialabba will head their player development operations under the title of assistant GM of player development. Long an integral member of the organization’s Latin American scouting calculus, DiPuglia will head that department under the title of vice president, assistant GM of international operations.

The club announced the promotions on its communications department blog.

Recently named the 2019 International Scout of the Year at the Winter Meetings, DiPuglia is credited with having a hand in the signing and development of current Nationals like Juan Soto, Victor Robles, Wander Suero, Wilmer Difo and others. He had served as the club’s vice president of international operations since November 2015, and he has held leadership positions in the department since 2009. The coming season will mark DiPuglia’s 11th with the Nationals, following 11 with the Boston Red Sox.

Scialabba served as director of player development since November 2013. He also headed the club’s Minor League operations from 2009-13, and he has held numerous other roles in the scouting, player development and analytics departments.