Royals targeted blend of experience, innovation with hitting coach hires

KANSAS CITY -- In hiring two new hitting coaches to serve on the Major League coaching staff alongside senior director of hitting performance/hitting coach Alec Zumwalt, the Royals were looking for balance.

Balancing how hitters are learning today and what the needs are for each individual on the roster. Balancing the experience each candidate would bring to the staff. And the balance they would bring with each other and with Zumwalt, both in knowledge and personality.

In Connor Dawson and Marcus Thames, the Royals feel as though they’ve achieved that.

Dawson and Thames will round out the hitting staff under Zumwalt, replacing assistant hitting coaches Keoni DeRenne and Joe Dillon for the 2026 season. Dawson, 32, was hired last week from the Brewers. He's a Kansas City-area native who brings a new-school approach and “creative mind,” general manager J.J. Picollo said. Thames, 48, was hired Monday. He brings the experience, both from his playing career over parts of 10 big league seasons and now more than a decade of coaching. The Royals were interested in hiring Thames in 2017 before the Yankees made him their hitting coach; now, he joins Kansas City with much more experience in several organizations, including with the Yankees, Marlins, Angels and White Sox.

Dawson and Thames will combine forces with Zumwalt in hopes of elevating an offense that ranked 26th in MLB this past season with 4.02 runs per game, but one in which the Royals believe has the pieces to improve.

“[Zumwalt] has good knowledge of the swing, bio mechanics, people skills [and] game-planning. All the things you want people to be able to do, Alec can cover all of those,” Picollo said. “He’s a really good person to have that oversight. And then with Connor, you have a younger guy [who’s] got four years in the Major Leagues with a team that really produced well and maximizes the talent on the roster. And a lot of it was tweaks along the way, getting players to understand what they need to do, how they need to move, understanding the swing, understanding the technology. Connor checked all those boxes.

“With Marcus, he’s got vast experience and great hitting knowledge. Worked with some tremendous players in the game. … Taking good players and helping them become the stars they’ve become. Working with those personalities, which are very strong -- you've got to be able to understand how the great players think. We’ve got a couple players that we consider great on our team. He’s going to connect really well with them.”

The Royals held phone interviews with more than 10 candidates and brought in five to Kansas City for in-person meetings. Conversations were extensive, ranging from specific players to overall offensive strategy. One thing that kept popping up was the Royals’ pitch selection.

Specifically, how does the contact-oriented offense maintain that ability but also become more selective, especially prior to two strikes?

“When you’re early swingers and make a lot of contact, like we did and have done for a number of years, you may not give yourself a chance to do that,” Picollo said.

Picollo mentioned Thames’ experience can help with that. He also pointed to the mechanics of a swing, or how the hitter is positioned for a swing, helping to unlock better pitch selection. That seems to be in Dawson’s wheelhouse.

“It doesn’t start with, ‘I’ll see the ball and swing or not swing,’” Picollo said. “It starts with what position their legs are in, where their hands are, so they have a chance to make a good decision. They’re all tied together.”

He added: “I think there can be improvements. It’s not easy. This isn’t new; we’ve talked about this before. … The goal may have been the same all along, but sometimes just a little different message may unlock that thing that any particular hitter is looking for to get into those counts and really do some damage when they get in those counts.”

While they feel set on the hitting side, the Royals’ 2026 coaching staff is not yet complete. The organization is hosting interviews for an assistant pitching coach after Zach Bove was hired as the White Sox new pitching coach. Kansas City's list includes external and internal candidates, and the Royals are seeking someone with a similar skill set to Bove -- one that is analytic- and pitch design-based -- who can work well with pitching coach Brian Sweeney and bullpen coach Mitch Stetter, as Bove did, which is what made that department so successful.

Kansas City will also be hiring a new Major League analyst, allowing Pete Berryman to shift to the team’s pro scouting department. Based on who fills that role, Picollo said he could see the team hiring a hitting-specific analyst to work with the coaches.