The Royals will reassign Alec Zumwalt from his duties as hitting coach, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. He will retain his position as senior director of hitting performance.
Zumwalt has been with the organization for nine years, and has been hitting coach and senior director of hitting performance since 2022. The Royals averaged 4.26 runs-per-game, finishing 21st in baseball. That was a slight improvement over their performance in 2025 when they scored 4.02 runs-per-game, 26th in baseball.
The season was highlighted by the emergence of Carter Jensen and Jac Caglianone, who became two of the most productive players in the lineup, and Michael Massey enjoyed a career-best season. But the team once again got off to a cold start offensively, averaging just 4.06 runs-per-game in April as the team stumbled off to a slow start. Vinnie Pasquantino struggled much of the year, Salvador Perez significantly declined, Isaac Collins slumped badly to end the year, and Kyle Isbel had his worst offensive season.
No word yet on whether or not the Royals will retain assistant hitting coaches Connor Dawson and Marcus Thames, who joined the staff this year, or whether or not there will be further changes to the coaching staff. J.J. Piccollo is scheduled to meet with the media on Wednesday.
