Bill Duplissea

William Joseph Duplissea (born September 27, 1977) 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.

Early life and education Duplissea was born in San Carlos, California. He attended college and played baseball at the College of San Mateo and the University of California, Santa Barbara. While still in college, Duplissea was drafted in the 39th round of the 1997 Major League Baseball draft by the Baltimore Orioles, but did not sign.

Career 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.

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. He remained in the role until 2012, when he moved into advance scouting for the Royals. 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.

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.

The Kansas City Star said Duplissea had "the best eyes in baseball" near the end of the 2017 season when the Royals were statistically the most successful team at challenging calls (having been successful in 22 of their 30 attempts). 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.