Ned Yost collects his 700th win with the Royals: ‘He’s a calming force for us’
While Royals players Whit Merrifield and Ryan O’Hearn were busy checking career firsts off their lists of accomplishments with grand slams on Tuesday night, their manager reached a milestone too.
Ned Yost reached 700 wins as the skipper for the Royals with Tuesday night’s 12-2 win over the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park. He already leads the franchise in career managerial victories and had taken the Royals to a pair of World Series, winning the championship in 2015, and he said those accomplishments — the American League pennants and the World Series title — have kept him on the bench for the Royals.
“If this was about numbers, I probably would’ve retired a couple years ago after we won a world championship, or the year after,” Yost said. “It’s not. It’s about taking this organization back to a championship caliber status.”
Yost took over as the club’s 16th full-time manager on May 13, 2010. He’s now in his 10th season at the helm for the Royals and has a 700-760 record. He posted a record of 457-502 while managing the Milwaukee Brewers from 2003-06.
“What keeps me going is I love the young players and I love working with Dayton Moore,” Yost said, referring to the Royals’ general manager. “It’s special that we could accomplish 700 wins together, and we’ll continue to try to accomplish as many more as we can.”
Yost blew past the previous club record for wins by manager set by Whitey Herzog (410), and he’s currently the longest-tenured manager in the American League. He ranks fourth among active managers in games (2,419) and fifth in wins (1,157).
“He’s a calming force for us,” Royals infielder Whit Merrifield said of Yost. “Things haven’t gone great, but he’s always been positive and kept us working hard and continuing to move forward even though things haven’t gone as we would’ve hoped to this point. He’s been great about that, and we’re lucky to have him.”
