The Royals didn’t wait around to start their offseason cleanup. Their first move wasn’t about a roster spot or a trade chip - it was a coaching shake-up.
Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported Tuesday that Kansas City has reassigned hitting coach Alec Zumwalt within the organization. Zumwalt will stay on as senior director of hitting performance, the position he held before moving onto the major league staff in May 2022.
The change comes after two straight seasons of offensive frustration in Kansas City. In 2025, the Royals finished with the fifth-fewest runs in baseball, and this season they were ninth from the bottom. Zumwalt had become a central figure in the conversation around those struggles, and now the club has opted to go in a different direction.
Zumwalt’s run with the Royals goes back a long way. He joined the organization as a scout in 2013 and climbed the ladder over time before taking over as the team’s hitting coach in early 2022, replacing Terry Bradshaw.
With Zumwalt out of the role, the Royals now have a vacancy to fill as they try to get more production from the lineup. Run scoring and situational hitting remain obvious areas that need work, and the timing of this move shows Kansas City is eager to get started.
The next question is who steps in as the Royals’ hitting coach in 2027. For now, the offseason has already begun with a significant staff change, and there’s plenty still ahead for Kansas City.
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For a club that has spent recent seasons trying to build stability around its big league operation, changes like these matter because they touch everything from day-to-day injury management to the mental side of the game. Kansas City plans to fill the openings ahead of the 2027 season, and the next wave of hires will be worth watching closely as the organization tries to reset a staff that plays a much bigger role than most fans see. [Read more 🡒]
Royals Nearly Lost A Voice That Became Part Of Franchise History
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What makes the story resonate now is how long Matthews stayed with the Royals after considering other opportunities, including offers to broadcast for the Chicago Cubs. Instead of leaving, he remained a constant through eras of expansion, rebuilds and success, and he plans to keep calling games through the 2027 season, extending a run that has already made him one of the most enduring voices in baseball. [Read more 🡒]
Royals Still Face One Problem That Could Ruin Another Season
The Royals offseason has been shaped by one unmistakable lesson from 2023: the slow start mattered, and it mattered a lot. Kansas City finished 69-93 and never recovered from the hole it dug early, something general manager J.J. Picollo has openly pointed to as a key reason the season went off track. In response, the organization has already gone to work on multiple fronts, including overhauling parts of the medical staff and revisiting how it creates runs.
Pitching remains the biggest area of concern, especially after the clubs earned run average jumped sharply from the year before. The Royals have also made a notable coaching change by moving lead hitting instructor Alec Zumwalt to the minor leagues, part of a wider attempt to reset the operation. Even with those adjustments, the priority in Kansas City is clear: rebuild the staff on the mound and avoid another season that gets away before it ever really starts. [Read more 🡒]