Royals tap former player to become team’s new assistant hitting coach

A second baseman and outfielder who spent his first five professional seasons with the organization will now join its coaching staff

Missouri’s Kansas City
A former player who began his career with the Kansas City Royals is being asked to take on the role of assistant hitting coach for the Major League Baseball franchise.

Joe Dillon, a former second baseman and outfielder with the Royals, was named Assistant Major League Hitting Coach by the team on Thursday morning.
The squad expects every other coach under Manager Matt Quatraro’s staff to be back for the 2024 campaign.

Dillon, 48, was chosen in the seventh round of the 1997 Draft and spent his first five professional seasons in Kansas City.

He was chosen by the Minnesota Twins in the 2001 Rule 5 Draft. Over the course of his 12-year playing career, he represented five different organisations.

Dillon spent one season with Tampa Bay in 2009, played in portions of two seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers from 2007 to 2008, and made his Major League Baseball debut with the Miami Marlins in 2005.

2010 saw him play his final season with Triple-A Durham.

Dillon’s professional coaching career, according to the Royals, started in 2014 when he spent two seasons as the Triple-A Syracuse Hitting Coach in the Washington Nationals organisation.

He was the Marlins’ Minor League Hitting Coordinator from 2016 to 2017, then he rejoined the Nationals in 2018 to serve as Assistant Hitting Coach for the team’s two-year World Series run. Eventually, in 2019, they won a World Series with Washington.

Dillon served as the hitting coach for the Philadelphia Phillies in 2020 and 2021.