KANSAS CITY, Mo.—The Kansas City Royals announced today that Paul Hoover has been named Bench Coach on Manager Matt Quatraro’s coaching staff.

“Paul is a great teammate, an extremely hard worker, always prepared and cares about helping players get better,” Quatraro said. “He will be a tremendous addition to the Royals family.”

Hoover, 46, spent the last four seasons as the Major League Field Coordinator on Kevin Cash’s staff in Tampa Bay, alongside Quatraro. During Hoover’s time on Tampa Bay’s staff, the Rays ranked 4th in the Majors with 322 wins, and made the postseason all four years, including a World Series appearance in 2020.

In his role with the Rays, Hoover assisted Cash and Quatraro on in-game decisions and worked defensively with catchers. Prior to joining the Rays big league staff for the 2019 season, he spent the previous six seasons from 2013-18 as the Rays Minor League Catching Coordinator. His coaching career began in 2012 as the Manager of the Gulf Coast League Rays.

Hoover played professionally for 14 seasons as a catcher, including parts of seven seasons in the Majors with the Devils Rays (2001-02), Marlins (2006-08) and Phillies (2009-10). He appeared in a total of 40 games, and his rookie status was still intact during his seventh and final Major League season in 2010, when he was 34.

Hoover was selected as a shortstop by Tampa Bay in the 23rd round of the 1997 Draft out of Kent State University and was converted to catcher in 1998. His relationship with Quatraro goes back at least 20 years, when they were teammates at Triple-A Durham in 2002.

Hoover resides in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio and has two daughters, Cameron and McKenna.