SURPRISE, Ariz. The Royals plan to employ a six-man rotation through the early weeks of spring training &#x97; and it&#x92;s not just because they have 15 pitchers, by manager Ned Yost&#x92;s rough count, who need to be conditioned for starting duty by April.</p><p>&#x93;In spring training,&#x94; Yost said, &#x93;pitchers don&#x92;t really have time to work on anything because you&#x92;re always competing. You pitch, have a side session and pitch again. You don&#x92;t have the luxury of facing a hitter and being able to work on your pitches.</p><p>&#x93;The six-man rotation gives you that.&#x94;</p><p>The switch to six is a spring-only function &#x97; and only through the early weeks. Yost said the Royals will shift back to a five-man rotation midway through camp in order to condition their starters properly for the regular season.</p><p>Yost also revealed that he expected to break camp with a 12-man staff, which would permit the Royals to carry four non-pitching reserves. The club played much of last season with a three-man bench.</p><p>&#x93;Probably,&#x94; he said. &#x93;Don&#x92;t set it in stone but, in my mind right now, we&#x92;re going to break this camp with 12 pitchers.&#x94;</p><p>Yost co-opted the idea of a six-man spring rotation from complex neighbor Texas after discussion with Rangers pitching coach Mike Maddux, who once served as Yost&#x92;s pitching coach in Milwaukee.</p><p>Starters will still be piggybacked through the first few weeks &#x97; i.e., a second starter will pitch in relief but always at the start of an inning, which enables him to go through his usual pregame approach.</p><p>The difference is a six-man rotation allows starters ample time between games to throw a full session of live batting practice against minor-league hitters.</p><p>The idea is those BP sessions provide a better opportunity to work on specific pitches or mechanical adjustments than a typical between-starts bullpen workout. Relievers will also participate, but the plan is geared primarily toward starters.</p><p>&#x93;I like the concept behind it,&#x94; Yost said. &#x93;As a pitcher, the way you get better is by throwing the ball. You can&#x92;t sit and watch a video and get better. The only way you get better is by practicing your craft, and you practice your craft on the mound.</p><p>&#x93;And you need to do it against a hitter.&#x94;</p><p>The routine will be to pitch in a game, take two days off, pitch batting practice, take two more days off and pitch in a game.</p><p>The Royals will summon hitters from minor-league camp for the BP sessions because big-league hitters generally prefer not to attempt their own between-games adjustments against big-league pitchers.</p><p>Also, the idea is to lower the competitive fervor in order to accentuate development.</p><p>&#x93;You&#x92;re not out there trying to blow the guy away,&#x94; Yost said. &#x93;You&#x92;re out there working on certain stuff. It could be just commanding your fastball down. It could be as simple as that. But it&#x92;s not a competitive situation.</p><p>&#x93;It&#x92;s hard to ask guys to (work on stuff) when they&#x92;re competing &#x97; and there&#x92;s so much competition for the pitching staff. But we have to get better. We have to lower our walks. We have to consistently pitch down in the zone better if we&#x92;re going to have any chance to compete.&#x94;