Royals GM gives vote of confidence to manager Matt Quatraro and his staff
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- Royals GM J.J. Picollo publicly endorsed manager Matt Quatraro and the coaching staff.
- Kansas City ranks last in the American League with a .200 average with RISP this season.
- Royals bullpen carries the worst ERA in baseball at 6.37 through the current season.
The poet T.S. Eliot died in 1965, four years before the Royals franchise started.
He couldn’t have known it at the time, but Eliot provided Royals fans with a message that resonates 104 years after he wrote it.
“April is the cruelest month,” is the opening to Eliot’s 1922 poem “The Waste Land.”
For Royals fans, they’ve too often seen their team falter in April.
Once again, the Royals find themselves stumbling out of the gate in the first full month of the season. The Royals have lost eight straight games following Monday night’s 7-5 defeat to the Orioles in 12 innings, and they have the worst record in baseball at 7-16.
Some fans have called for a change, but Royals general manager J.J. Picollo on Monday met with the media and expressed confidence in manager Matt Quatraro.
The reason for Picollo’s faith? He looked back at Quatraro’s first year as Royals manager in 2023 when the team lost 106 games. But the following season, they were in the playoffs.
“That’s ultimately going back to ‘23 when you go through a really tough year, and the composure that he kept through ‘23, the positivity, the way we played in August and September of that year, where we played a lot better, led into ‘24,” Picollo said of Quatraro. “I think his steadiness is what allows us to do things well and right the ship.”
That ship is currently taking on water.
The Royals are batting only .200 with runners in scoring position this season, the lowest average in the American League. And they have scored the fewest runs in the league (76).
Royals pitchers are tied for last with an opponent batting average of .273 with runners in scoring position and two outs. The Royals’ bullpen has the worst ERA at 6.37. Houston is 29th at 5.66.
But Picollo also gave a vote of confidence to the coaching staff.
“They’re good. They’re good at what they do,” Picollo said. “They prepare every day with a lot of belief and confidence in their planning, their preparation. I think they put the hitters in a really good spot, the pitchers in a really good spot to go compete, and then in the end, I think the players will tell you that they’re the ones that have to go out and execute.
“But I don’t see any problems with our processes. And I think there’s some signs that our processes are good. We just haven’t gotten the results yet.”
This story was originally published April 21, 2026 at 8:27 AM.
