The Royals have added Hunter Mense as a hitting coach, according to reporters Mark Feinsand and Maria Guardado. Mense has just completed his first year as hitting coach for the San Francisco Giants. The Royals reassigned hitting coach Alec Zumwalt from instructing major league hitters at the end of the season so he could focus on working with minor leaguers.
Mense is from Liberty, Missouri and attended Mizzou. He spent a few years in the Marlins organization as a minor leaguer, but was never in the big
leagues. He was hired as a minor league coach for the Padres in 2017, before moving on to the Blue Jays organization after one year. He joined their big league team as an assistant hitting coach in 2022, helping the team win a pennant in 2025. The Giants hired him to work under new manager Tony Vitiello this year. Under his watch, the Giants averaged just 4.13 runs-per-game, fifth-lowest in baseball.
Mense will work with assistant hitting coaches Connor Dawson and Marcus Thames at the big league level, while Zumwalt will retain his title as Director of Hitting Performance. The Royals improved offensively last year, scoring 4.26 runs-per-game, 21st in baseball and up from 2025 when they averaged just 4.02 runs-per-game. But the lineup got off to a slow start, the team still struggled to draw walks, and they were the worst offensive team on the road this year.
