Miguel Olivo is ticked. Not even the guy known in some circles as &#8220;Smiley&#8221; can ignore it any longer.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s only, what, (29) more games?&#8221; he said. &#8220;I&#8217;m going to do my best during that and that&#8217;s it.&#8221;</p><p>His words to <em>The Star</em> are the first public signs of frustration &#8212; non-Jos&#233; Guillen division &#8212; from a Royals player during what is quickly devolving into a disappointing season, even by Kansas City standards. He and the team hold mutual options for next year, and Olivo said there&#8217;s no way he&#8217;ll return.</p><p>&#8220;Hell no,&#8221; he said.</p><p>This frustration lies in what he sees as no communication with manager Trey Hillman and especially a lack of playing time. Even after catching three of the last four games, he&#8217;s on pace to play just 85 games, which would be the fewest since he debuted as a September call-up in 2002. He&#8217;s also on pace for his fewest at-bats since 2005.</p><p>Olivo&#8217;s words are deliberate and honest. He&#8217;s twice asked if there&#8217;s anything he&#8217;d like to take back, and he twice said no. Even after sleeping on it.</p><p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t know what happened,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I think (Hillman) doesn&#8217;t like me sometimes. I don&#8217;t know. There&#8217;s no way. When I&#8217;m in there, I do my job. I try to do my best. Every time I go over there (to the coaches), I say something, but I think nobody listens to me. That&#8217;s what I think.</p><p>&#8220;But I know I&#8217;m a good player. Everybody knows. I can play anywhere.&#8221;</p><p>In the beginning, Olivo played plenty &#8212; 44 of the team&#8217;s first 68 games &#8212; but has been in just 26 of the last 65 games. He&#8217;s made 42 starts at catcher, compared to 91 for John Buck, who&#8217;s hitting .224 with eight homers and 41 RBIs in 93 games and 322 at-bats.</p><p>Olivo is batting .264 with 11 homers and 36 RBIs in 70 games and 250 at-bats. His batting average, on-base percentage (.291) and slugging (.472) would all be career highs.</p><p>He has gone at least four days between starts seven times since the middle of June. Including the All-Star break, he went 12 days without a start, part of a 21-day span in which he started only three times.</p><p>Hillman acknowledged Olivo&#8217;s frustration.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s been an issue all season,&#8221; he said. &#8220;All season.&#8221;</p><p>When asked to rate Olivo&#8217;s play, Hillman said, &#8220;he&#8217;s done OK.&#8221;</p><p>Olivo&#8217;s strengths are his power (especially on fastballs) and throwing arm (11 of 29 would-be base stealers caught). Hillman is noticing some improvement from Olivo on off-speed pitches and game management, two of Olivo&#8217;s biggest weaknesses.</p><p>Hillman disputed Olivo&#8217;s claim that he&#8217;s not being heard.</p><p>&#8220;We hear it every time he says it,&#8221; Hillman said. &#8220;We can&#8217;t add a 10th slot (to the lineup). We do every day with the lineup what we think is best for the battery and overall team. Nobody&#8217;s said anything to me or approached me with anything I haven&#8217;t heard. Whether it&#8217;s me or any other coach, if he feels like we&#8217;re not listening, he&#8217;d be mistaken.&#8221;</p><p>Only one of the five talent evaluators contacted for this story considered Olivo a No. 1 catcher, and even that came with a qualifier: &#8220;He&#8217;s one of the best 30 catchers in baseball, but that&#8217;s because there&#8217;s not a lot of other good ones.&#8221;</p><p>Of the four who rate Olivo as a backup catcher, two thought he was better than Buck.