Jaylon Thompson writes about the search for new coaches.
Picollo hinted at potential changes during the Royals’ end-of-season news conference. The club will now evaluate candidates for the hitting department roles. It’s possible the Royals keep three hitting coaches to better connect with the offensive personnel.
This season, the Royals also had Miguel Garcia available to help in different capacities with the hitting staff. “It certainly seems to make sense to have two (assistant hitting coaches),”
Picollo said.
“You know, we also have Miguel Garcia, who does a lot of work in the cage. Once we get into the process — we talk to different coaches and Alec is able to think about this more — I think it will be more clearly defined as we go.”
Craig Brown reacts to the coaching changes.
That was a bit of a long and winding answer, but it’s safe to say the Royals are looking for new voices, new philosophies, and basically, a brand new approach. The old balance, the old skill sets and abilities…those didn’t work. The team will be starting from scratch, but with the old boss still in charge.
I’m aware of what I’ve written about Zumwalt in that sacking a hitting coach generally feels like eyewash. It just doesn’t move the needle for me. Yet if the organization is going to be cashiering the entire hitting support staff, how does the lead guy survive? Wasn’t Zumwalt, as the Senior Director of Hitting Performance, responsible for coordinating and then implementing said philosophies and the instruction? I don’t know…if you’re going to decide the hitting coaches were the issue—and that’s clearly what the Royals have decided—it feels strange to let everyone go but the top dog.
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Your song of the day is The Favors with Home Sweet Home.
