Royals Add Flamethrower Dilone to Bullpen

GUELPH - The Guelph Royals Baseball Club is excited to announce today the signing of relief pitcher Julio Dilone.  

Dilone, 26, joins the Royals after a five year minor league career spent across the Seattle Mariners, Miami Marlins, and San Diego Padres organizations. 

Throughout his five year minor league career, the native of Cotui in the Dominican Republic struck out a whopping 108 batters in 72.2 innings pitched.

Royals General Manager Ryan Eakin said adding Dilone was a top priority for the Royals early in the offseason.

"Dilone checks a lot of boxes that we are looking for in our relievers. He is in his prime, has what we believe will be elite swing and miss at this level, and throws very hard, having thrown as hard as 97 mph this past season according to the data we have collected. If there was one flaw in our bullpen in 2026, I believe it was velocity and I think Dilone will go a long way to addressing that."