Royals undermine supposed hitting coach confidence with latest shuffle

The Kansas City Royals are officially in offseason mode and have plenty off matters ahead of them that they'll need to tackle in an effort to avoid facing the same disappointment they did this season after missing the postseason once again.

Part of their offseason plans, like many teams have undergone this season, is establishing their coaching staff for 2026.

In the Royals' end-of-season press conference, GM J.J. Picollo stated that the team will be bringing back much of their existing coaching staff, including hitting coach Alec Zumwalt.

While many fans may be less than thrilled that Zumwalt will be back after the inconsistent and frankly underwhelming season Kansas City had at the plate, there will be some changes to the hitting department after all.

According to Anne Rogers of MLB.com, Picollo announced that a pair of Royals assistant hitting coaches, Keoni DeRenne and Joe Dillon will not be in the coaching fold for 2026, joining the likes of director of hitting Drew Saylor, as it was announced last week that his contract wouldn't be renewed for next season.

J.J. Picollo does in fact make changes to Royals hitting staff

"I want to thank Keoni and Joe for what they’ve done with us, Keoni helping us through a tough 2023 and both of them helping us elevate in ‘24, and still did some nice things this year,” Picollo said to MLB.com.

"They’re going to end up in a good spot somewhere in the game," he said. "They’re both well respected, and we appreciate what they did with us.”

It shouldn't come as a shock that the Royals' brass is making some sort of switch in the offensive brain trust. They ranked amongst the bottom 10 in MLB in wRC+ (T-22nd at 93) and amongst the bottom five in runs scored (26th at 651), RBI (26th at 638) and home runs (26th at 159).

However, they looked rather rejuvenated in the second-half, sitting 11th in wRC+, eighth in OPS, seventh in runs scored, seventh in RBI and 10th in homers.

Perhaps this is what fueled Picollo to give a bode of confidence in Zumwalt and announce his return.

However, gutting his staff by announcing his two assistants won't be back seems to signal Picollo's keeping Zumwalt at arms length. And to put it in more extreme terms, he could very well be undermining his supposed confidence Zumwalt before the season even begins.

Now, Zumwalt isn't the be-all-end-all when it comes to offense, no hitting coach is. It's the players that play the game and score the runs, and in that same press conference he voiced his confidence in Zumwalt, Picollo did also address the fact offensive improvements are needed.

Now, the search is on in Kansas City for both offensive improvements and new coaching staff for Zumwalt.