KC Royals: Ned Yost Is Manager Of The Year Candidate

May 1, 2015; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Royals manager Ned Yost (3) celebrates with catcher Salvador Perez (13) after their game against the Detroit Tigers at Kauffman Stadium. The Royals won 4-1. Mandatory Credit: John Rieger-USA TODAY Sports

Through the first 40 games of the 2015 season, KC Royals manager Ned Yost is doing a fabulous job. The Kansas City Royals have the best start in franchise history at 26-14. But, more importantly, Ned Yost has his entire roster playing all-out team baseball.

That last statement is more rare than most people think.

This isn’t exactly easy for me to say. I’m no big fan of Ned Yost. Last season, I even called for his head in August and said he was the “Village Idiot Of Managers” due to his bad tactics.

To be honest, I still don’t like his tactics. But, I always recognized that managing the clubhouse is the biggest part of a manager’s job. It was not until last October that I realized just how completely the Kansas City Royals had bought into Ned Yost’s program.

Of course, it helps that general manager Dayton Moore has built a team with few weaknesses. The bullpen leads MLB with a 1.61 ERA. The offense has scored the third-most runs in baseball with 202. Yost doesn’t need to pinch hit much, and he can hardly go wrong when it comes to selecting a reliever—even if he picked them out of a hat.

That leaves managing the clubhouse, and Yost is clearly doing a terrific job.

The KC Royals are a team without a recognized superstar. They have good players. Some even qualify as stars. But there isn’t really anyone that pundits across baseball recognize as part of the game’s true elite.

Part of that lack of recognition could be due to Kansas City’s small market size. In 2012, website The Bleacher Report rated Kansas City no. 30 among the 30 major-league franchises in market size.

Beyond the small market, the team lacks any player with an entitled superstar attitude.

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