This story was excerpted from Anne Rogers’ Royals Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

The Royals’ on-field additions rightfully grabbed headlines this winter with the front office’s aggressive approach to revamping the entire roster, and ownership’s willingness to spend at a rate not seen before in small-market Kansas City.

The additions, improvements from the young homegrown core and a new winning culture have led to an early-season surge from the Royals. But the roster wasn’t the only part of the organization that grew this offseason.

As part of the expansion seen throughout the front office, the Royals’ research and development department -- their analytical team -- added six people this offseason, including hiring director of research and development Christine Harris.

Others in their first season with the Royals include Major League strategy analyst Pete Berryman, pro player analyst Nick Loeffelholz, amateur scouting analyst Gabriel Levy, research scientist Dan Gustafson and senior analyst Michael Cifuentes, who returned for his second stint with the Royals after spending the 2023 season with the Red Sox as their coordinator of baseball strategy/personnel.

“The reasonable but increased demands of the Major League staff meant more of our resources were going to them, making sure we were providing them with better information,” assistant general manager/vice president of research and development Dr. Daniel Mack said. “And that our information streams are more efficient at getting that information they need. Now, we have enough people where we’re still handling coaches' feedback, but we can also implement things long-term, things in the Minor Leagues, internationally.”

One of Mack’s biggest hires was Harris, who was an analyst for the Pirates from 2021-22 before being promoted to their assistant director of research and development last season. Mack had been interested in bringing Harris in previously as an analyst, but did not get permission from the Pirates to interview.

When the Royals knew they would have a director position open, she was on the list of candidates again. Having a critical eye from another Major League organization -- rather than hiring from outside the industry -- has been helpful for Mack.

“When you’ve seen how another team does it, you’ve got an expectation, and it gets challenged in both directions,” Mack said. “... She’s extremely organized, and she has a very critical mind. And it comes with a level of humility. She was going to be critical of our systems and whether we were building them in the right ways because she has a good technical base. But she also really craves the good analytical process for building things. She’s shown up and been able to absorb a lot of new processes that we were already doing and been able to inject her thoughts into that. Been able to push back on it, too, and we can talk through it.”

Harris handles many of the day-to-day duties with the big league team and supervises analysts. That allows Mack to oversee bigger projects across the organization, whether it’s helping scouting director Brian Bridges deploy data and new strategies or helping on the Minor League side.

Another big change is having Berryman -- who was a walk-on wide receiver at Auburn from 2016-17 -- ingrained in the Royals’ clubhouse every day, including road trips, to help with reports and strategy. Research and development coordinator/pitching development Brandon Nelson, who is in his fifth season with the Royals, is also more involved with the big league pitching staff, overseeing pitching initiatives and helping pitching coach Brian Sweeney.

Having those two around the big league team gives staff and players more points of contact for questions and conversations. And it’s not just for on-field decisions – data does not drive everything – but also for evaluating players both inside and outside the organization.

Manager Matt Quatraro’s staff is curious and not afraid to ask questions or have a back-and-forth dialogue. That’s something Mack and the Royals learned last year.

“Minute-to-minute, questions can be answered,” Quatraro said. “Things come up in our mind, and Pete’s bringing ideas to us. We don’t act on all of them by any means, nor does he, but it’s just better communication. And I want all of [the analysts] to bring questions and ideas to me. The way I look at it is, if all they’re doing is answering our questions, we’re not really getting better. They’re the smarter people in this equation. So they need to bring things to us that provoke thought.”

The growth the Royals’ research department has seen speaks to the changes made throughout the organization, and while there are many new voices contributing, there’s also a definitive purpose for each of those voices and what they’re trying to do to help the organization.

“It shows a level of openness that [general manager] J.J. [Picollo] demonstrated,” Mack said. “He knows these data streams are really important. And [Royals CEO/chairman John] Sherman’s willingness to add this type of personnel also reinforces that this is not something that we’re doing just to do it. We have a purpose and a role to fill. I think that helps our entire group know that what they do every day is important.”