Royals manager Matt Quatraro usually keeps his cool. Players liked his outburst Monday
Kansas City Royals manager Matt Quatraro is known for his stoic demeanor.
Quatraro tries to control his emotions and remain level-headed, no matter the situation. His calmness has been a constant in a Royals season filled with trials and tribulations.
Quatraro’s calm nature is something his players have come to expect and it allows them to be their authentic selves around him. In fact, his stoicism is one of the things Royals veteran third baseman Matt Duffy appreciates about him.
“I think one of the positive things he brings to the table is understanding it’s a really long process of changing the direction of the organization,” said Duffy before Tuesday’s game against the Diamondbacks. “Also, getting guys to think about different things in different ways, it takes time — it’s not going to happen in two weeks, three weeks.”
It also helps, Duffy continued, “(by) us not having to be walking around on eggshells like they’re going to clean house every week when we struggle.”
Yet in Monday’s series opener, a 5-4 loss to the Diamondbacks, Quatraro showed a different side of himself. In the bottom of the eighth inning, the skipper appeared to drop a formidable expletive on live TV — before yelling, “Come on!” at the crew umpiring the game.
Quatraro didn’t like that a pitch-clock violation was called by home-plate umpire D.J. Reyburn on relief pitcher Aroldis Chapman. Champan got called for a ball, and Quatraro disagreed.
The umpires’ reasoning?
“That he (Chapman) got set before the hitter was engaged,” Quatraro said after Monday’s game. “You’re not supposed to come set as the pitcher before the hitter is looking at you. There’s a lot of subjectivity to that.”
Chapman eventually walked Diamondbacks pinch-hitter Christian Walker. And Walker became the game-winning run when shortstop Nick Ahmed hit the ball toward Royals first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino, who rushed an off-target throw home.
As a first-year manager, Quatraro finally has the chance to verbally spar with umpires. Just don’t expect it to happen often.
“I have no interest in being out there, but at times you have to question things that you think your team needs to be backed up on,” Quatraro said before Tuesday’s game at Arizona. “I’m not looking forward to going out there by any means.”
Quatraro might not like going out there, but his players certainly appreciated him having their backs.
“One-hundred percent. It’s the first time I’ve seen him (like that), but I like it,” said Royals catcher Salvador Perez. “It’s the first time I’ve seen him — he was a little mad and I think he had a reason to be mad. … I like the first time I’ve seen him like that. I know he had it (in him).”
According to Duffy, Quatraro doesn’t hold many team meetings.
“Once or twice. He’s reiterated, ‘Continue to come in every day ready to work and just keep taking care of your teammates,’” Duffy said. “It’s easy when things are going like this to start pointing fingers.”
The Royals are 5-18 heading into Tuesday night’s game.
Quatraro has established a culture of going with the flow as this young Royals team goes through its growing pains.
“Whether it’s, ‘Hey, I’m not getting to the fastball up,’ or ‘I’ve been getting nothing but first-pitch breaking balls and I can’t even think about it,’” Duffy said. “‘I don’t even know it because I’m so dang frustrated. I’m getting so angry and I just want to get a hit so dang bad.’ It’s just like, ‘OK, let’s take a breath.’
“Coaches aren’t stressing out about you. They’re not freaking out. You don’t have to worry about getting called into the office and is he going to ... release me or whatever?”
Instead, Quatraro asks his players how they are doing and tells them to keep working, which allows players to evaluate themselves less emotionally.
Duffy feels Quatraro’s stoicism in challenging times is a great trait for his longevity as a manager.
“I would say that the good managers that I’ve had have weathered storms really well,” Duffy said. “They’ve stuck around for a long time. That’s a very common theme. … It’s good to have a guy that’s steering the ship that’s like, ‘Stay calm and let’s worry about what we can control and do that every day.’”
This story was originally published April 25, 2023 at 8:05 PM.
