Phillies scouting director Johnny Almaraz steps down, will assume new role with club

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CINCINNATI — Johnny Almaraz, the Phillies director of amateur scouting since October 2014, is stepping down from the role, the club announced on Tuesday.

Almaraz will remain with the club as a special assistant in scouting and player development.

Almaraz's change in role is voluntary. He sought the change for personal reasons.

“Johnny has had an enormously successful career in baseball,” general manager Matt Klentak said. “He has been instrumental in the signing and development of many quality big league players. We’re grateful for the five years that he spent leading our scouting department, and we feel very fortunate that he will continue to have an impact on our scouting and player development efforts in a new role.”

The Phillies will fill the scouting director opening in the coming weeks. Greg Schilz is the club’s assistant scouting director. He joined the organization after Klentak came aboard as GM in October 2015. Almaraz was hired during Ruben Amaro Jr.’s time as GM.

Almaraz came from the Braves organization. He ran the team’s international scouting operation and oversaw the signing of young stars Ronald Acuna Jr. and Ozzie Albies.

Almaraz oversaw five amateur drafts with the Phillies. His top picks, in order, were outfielder Cornelius Randolph (2015), outfielder Mickey Moniak (2016), outfielder Adam Haseley (2017), third baseman Alec Bohm (2018) and shortstop Bryson Stott (2019). Haseley is a rookie in the majors and Randolph, Moniak and Bohm played at Double A this season. 

Bohm projects to be in the picture in Philadelphia sometime next season after hitting .305 with 21 homers, 80 RBIs and a .896 OPS in 125 games at the Single A and Double A level in 2019. He and Moniak are slated to play in the Arizona Fall League.

Under Almarez’s watch, the Phillies also selected Scott Kingery in the second round in 2015 and pitcher Spencer Howard in the second round in 2017. Kingery has become a regular in the majors and Howard is the team’s top pitching prospect and could be in the starting rotation as soon as next season.

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