KANSAS CITY -- A year ago, the Royals were in Baltimore, embarking on their first postseason appearance in nine seasons. This year, they’ll begin their October at home instead of building on 2024’s postseason appearance.
A winning season (82-80) and core pieces returning should have Kansas City excited and motivated for 2026 and beyond. But there’s work to do to ensure the Royals can establish themselves as a yearly contender.
This October, then, will be all about evaluating why the Royals fell short of the playoffs and what they need for the coming season. That includes roster changes; once again, the Royals will look to improve their offense, with the outfield as the most likely spot for an addition.
It will also likely include tweaks to the coaching staff under manager Matt Quatraro, but not wholesale changes. At their annual end-of-season press conference on Tuesday, general manager J.J. Picollo said “most of” the Royals’ coaching staff will return in 2026.
Most notably, that includes senior director of hitting performance/hitting coach Alec Zumwalt, who came under criticism this year with the lack of offensive production out of the Royals’ lineup. The Royals in 2025 scored 651 runs, the fifth-worst mark in MLB. Their .247 batting average was 15th, their .309 on-base percentage was 22nd and their .397 slugging percentage was 18th. In 2024, they slashed .248/.306/.403 and scored 84 more runs than this year.
“We’ve got to make some decisions on the hitting side,’” Picollo said. “What I will say is, Alec Zumwalt is going to be our hitting coach. How do we support Alec in a way that allows him to have the most success with the roster that we have? Those decisions haven’t been made yet. We still have to work through that. It might just be tweaking our staff. How do we tweak the staff? What don’t we have? What can we do, from an analyst standpoint, from a holistic standpoint, to try to help our offense improve?
“... He’s a tireless worker, which they all are. His creativity, his game planning, his relationship-building abilities all really stand out.”
Zumwalt has a long history in Kansas City, including as the Minor League hitting coordinator before he took over as the hitting coach in 2022. Several players he worked with in the Minors -- including Bobby Witt Jr., Vinnie Pasquantino and Maikel Garcia -- have become core pieces in the Majors.
“I don’t think we can ignore that,” Picollo said. “I think the big criticism this year on the hitting side was runners in scoring position. But if you break down what we did in the second half of this year, it was pretty good.”
Last year, the Royals hit .282 with a .794 OPS with runners in scoring position. This year, they hit .255 with a .723 OPS.
But broken down between the first half and second half? It’s a much different story.
• Before the All-Star break: .229 AVG (28th in MLB), .287 OBP (30th), .340 SLG (28th), .627 OPS (29th)
• After the All-Star break: .293 AVG (3rd), .364 OBP (5th), .500 SLG (3rd), .864 OPS (3rd)
“We can’t ignore those things,” Picollo said. “It hurt us in the beginning of the year. That’s why we’ve got to look at our processes and how we’re going to enhance what we can do and what we’re capable of. … This is the same group of players, for the most part, that did execute last year, and we just didn’t do it to the same level in ‘25.”
Royals hitters trust Zumwalt and stated so throughout the season. Those relationships also factor into the Royals’ decisions.
That doesn’t mean there won’t be some changes made. Picollo mentioned tweaks to the staff, which could mean different roles or additions to the hitting group that includes Zumwalt and assistant hitting coaches Keoni DeRenne and Joe Dillon.
Potentially related in those decisions is that the Royals will be looking for a new Minor League director of hitting performance this offseason after not renewing Drew Saylor’s contract for 2026, according to sources.
Saylor ran most of the operations on the Minor League hitting side, although Zumwalt was still involved as the senior director. The Royals have two assistant hitting coordinators, Nic Jackson and Abraham Nunez, but will have to decide who will be leading their young hitters in the farm system and what that means for the big league staff.
On the pitching side, the Royals will be bringing back pitching coach Brian Sweeney, as well as assistant pitching coach Zach Bove and bullpen coach Mitch Stetter, although there might be some interest from other teams given the turnaround the pitching department has orchestrated over the past two years.
Third-base coach/field coordinator Vance Wilson could see his name included in managerial conversations around the league.
Another big priority for the Royals is assessing their baserunning processes after making “too many unforced errors this year” on the bases, Picollo said. First-base coach Damon Hollins works with the baserunners most extensively.