SURPRISE, Ariz. It is early morning with the sun barely poking through the desert sky above Dick Howser Field &#x97; the half-field that consists solely of an infield diamond, tucked into the southwest corner of the Royals&#x92; complex.</p><p>Coach Chino Cadahia is running the camp&#x92;s six catchers through a routine throwing drill. In turn, each takes a series of balls from the pitching machine while rising from a crouch to peg the ball to second base.</p><p>Cadahia&#x92;s commentary, an improv-like mixture of encouragement and instruction, is non-stop as it booms to neighboring fields. That makes it easy to overlook the grizzled man with biker-worthy ink who steps into the right side of the box to simulate a hitter.</p><p>Jason Kendall doesn&#x92;t say a word as he follows the ball from the machine into Sal Perez&#x92;s glove. Kendall merely shifts his gaze to Perez&#x92;s footwork as the 21-year-old explodes into motion and rockets the ball to second.</p><p>Time and again, Kendall and Perez repeat their dance while Cadahia, also studying Perez&#x92;s mechanics, chatters away. Kendall&#x92;s only movement is a few nods of his head after each of Perez&#x92;s throws.</p><p>&#x93;Sal&#x85;,&#x94; Kendall says later. &#x93;He&#x92;s going to be a good one for a long time.&#x94;</p><p>Jason Kendall, now 37, should know; he was a good one for a long time. He was a three-time All-Star who averaged 139 games a year through 15 seasons before wear and tear chewed up his right rotator cuff midway through the 2010 season.</p><p>The dream of returning to active duty lives on, even though his recovery period now seems likely to stretch through the upcoming season. Kendall admits he might only have &#x93;a 5-percent chance&#x94; of playing again but insists on &#x93;giving it a shot.&#x94;</p><p>So his rehab continues with an April target for the first real throwing tests on that repaired shoulder. But Kendall was also quick to grasp the opportunity offered by general manager Dayton Moore to serve as a special assignment coach.</p><p>&#x93;I&#x92;m not sure he&#x92;s come to grips with retiring,&#x94; Moore said, &#x93;but he lives in Kansas City, and he&#x92;s going to be out at the ballpark. He&#x92;s a great preparer who has tremendous respect for the game. He can help us in a lot of areas.&#x94;</p><p>Kendall found the offer irresistible after Moore permitted him to arrange his work schedule around his responsibilities as a single father to two children.</p><p>&#x93;I can tell you this,&#x94; Kendall said, &#x93;I&#x92;m having fun doing it, too. This could be the best job in the world. I can be with my kids, and also be at the ballpark and keep going with my rehab.</p><p>&#x93;This also allows me to be with the two guys who know my shoulder the best &#x97; Nick and Jeff (trainer Nick Kenney and physical therapist Jeff Blum).&#x94;</p><p>Kendall&#x92;s responsibilities are still evolving, but plans call for him to assist Cadahia this spring in working with the club&#x92;s catchers. Specifically, Kendall hopes to hone the group&#x92;s game-planning and pitch-calling.</p><p>&#x93;Coaches have a lot of responsibilities,&#x94; he said, &#x93;but I can be that guy who takes care of one little thing. I&#x92;ll work with Sal and Brayan (Pe&#xF1;a), and I can work with the pitchers. I can help out (pitching coach Dave) Eiland and Chino.</p><p>&#x93;I can offer some knowledge that you get just from experience and playing. I know I can help. I know I can do things like that.&#x94;</p><p>Pe&#xF1;a benefited from such instruction while serving as Kendall&#x92;s backup in 2010.</p><p>&#x93;He&#x92;s going to make a huge impact for me and everybody in this camp,&#x94; Pe&#xF1;a said. &#x93;I told Salvy, &#x91;We need to get close to Jason Kendall. The more information we can get from a guy like that, the better.&#x92;&#x94;</p><p>Cadahia is also enthusiastic.</p><p>&#x93;He&#x92;s a tremendous help,&#x94; he said. &#x93;It&#x92;s not often you get a guy with that kind of experience who has done so much at this level to help you out. I think these kids are going to learn an awful lot from him.&#x94;</p><p>Kendall will continue that work at home games once the season starts. He will travel only rarely with the big-league club but told Moore that he is open to other short-term assignments.</p><p>&#x93;If he wants me to go to (Northwest) Arkansas and work with a Double-A catcher for three days,&#x94; Kendall said, &#x93;I can do that. I can take my kids with me on a weekend.</p><p>&#x93;Or say we&#x92;re in a pennant race, and we want to go look at a guy. I know all of the big-league clubhouses. I know all of the people around here. I can help out there.&#x94;</p><p>Where it all leads, Kendall isn&#x92;t sure.</p><p>&#x93;Can I play again?&#x94; he asked. &#x93;I don&#x92;t know. I&#x92;m going to give it a shot. Is it going to be this year? No, probably not. But who knows? I&#x92;m in uncharted waters&#x85;This job might be something that I enjoy.&#x94;