Here’s why Matt Quatraro seems well-suited to guide the Kansas City Royals’ young core
The Kansas City Royals young core that includes rising star shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., budding pitching staff ace Brady Singer, left fielder/catcher MJ Melendez and first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino, didn’t get to pick Matt Quatraro as the club’s new manager. But the hire was certainly made with them in mind.
Following the dismissal of Mike Matheny as manager and Cal Eldred as pitching coach, Royals executive vice president and general manager J.J. Picollo said the organization’s immediate focus needed to shift to being more “process-oriented.”
That was also the case when the Royals brought senior director of hitting performance Alec Zumwalt into the dugout as part of the major-league coaching staff.
All of these moves — Quatraro’s hiring, the coaching changes and ongoing changes in player development — have been aimed at getting the most out of the young and largely home-grown talent.
Part of the manager-search criteria that Picollo described included “a personality and a leadership type that we thought would mesh well with our players,” a further reflection of that aim.
“If (players) have a thought about what they need to be doing or want to do,” Picollo said. “They need to know that somebody on the other side of the desk or in the bullpen or in the batting cage is willing to say, ‘Okay, let’s try it.’ I think Matt exemplifies that, and the pitching coach will as well.”
Quatraro has a reputation for being able to communicate his thoughts clearly and concisely, but at the same time he received rave reviews as a “listener.”
Picollo also touted “a level of humility” in Quatraro that will be “inviting” to players, but Quatraro also shared with Picollo that he’s aware that his willingness to listen at times gets taken as naivety.
Quatraro is not naive. His natural default is to take in information rather than show how much he knows or convince others he’s the smartest in the room.
“When you’re putting somebody in a clubhouse with 26 sort of alpha males, somebody needs to be a good listener,” Picollo said.
During Thursday’s introductory news conference, Quatraro showed glimpses of his dry and at times self-deprecating, sense of humor as well as his attentiveness and desire to get on the same page with whomever he’s dealing with — even in a group question-and-answer setting with reporters.
Quatraro made a name for himself working in a pair of successful small-market organizations that place an emphasis on developing their own talent, Cleveland and Tampa Bay.
In Kansas City, he’ll guide a very young team. Thirteen Royals players made their debuts in the majors this season, including potential everyday players such as Michael Massey, Drew Waters, Witt, Melendez and Pasquantino.
Twenty-one KC rookies appeared in games this year, tied for third-most in franchise history behind the Royals’ teams of 2004 (23) and 2002 (22).
Quatraro’s task now becomes getting the current crop of Royals players, individually and collectively, to transition from obvious talent and potential to consistent performance.
“It’s extremely exciting to be with a young group of players that’s hungry to get better,” Quatraro said. “I think the other main thing is there is a lot of infrastructure in place here to collaborate with and that came shining through in the interviews.”
He’ll have a say, along with the front office, on rounding out the rest of the coaching staff.
While Quatraro will have the ultimate responsibility for the day-to-day approach by players and staff, he made it clear multiple times that he does not intend to micromanage his staff.
Quatraro said he’ll look for individuals who are curious, open-minded and able to both communicate and collaborate.
“Any one person sits here and tells you that they have the answer, that’s not the way,” Quatraro said. “There’s a collective group of minds here, the players, we all have to rely on each other and take information back and forth.”
Of course, the growing pains still aren’t over for the youthful Royals just because a new manager and some new coaches will come aboard.
The final two months of this season should have underscored that point.
Following the MLB trade deadline when the Royals went all-in on the youth movement and shifted the focus to their developing core, they went 24-34 (August 3-October 5).
“That’s extremely challenging, to grow at this level,” Quatraro said. “But the expected growth on the backside of that is a great thing to project.”
The hope will be that the win-loss record will turn around as those players perform closer to their potential. But getting the best out of these players will be priority number one.
