The Royals will revamp their hitting department for 2026

Just a couple of days after the Royals said their Director of Hitting, Drew Saylor, would not be returning in 2026, reports came out that they were also parting ways with assistant hitting coaches Keoni DeRenne and Joe Dillon.

Anne Rogers has the quote from Royals General Manager JJ Picollo:

“I want to thank Keoni and Joe for what they’ve done with us, Keoni helping us through a tough 2023 and both of them helping us elevate in ‘24, and still did some nice things this year,” Picollo said. “They’re both really good, tireless workers. They’re going to end up in a good spot somewhere in the game. They’re both well respected, and we appreciate what they did with us.”

Fairly standard stuff.

At the Royals end of the year press conference, Picollo did note that while they would be retaining the services of hitting coach Alec Zumwalt, they would have to “make some decisions on the hitting side.” In retrospect, that comment was a harbinger of what was to come as the Royals will be completely revamping their support staff on the hitting side.

I keep looking at what the Royals have done on the pitching side, with Brian Sweeney heading up the major league staff with support from Zach Bove and Mitch Stetter. I’ve written (a lot) about how the Royals need to recapture that magic on the hitting side. It would seem that Picollo feels the same way. What they had in place wasn’t working. They will set out to rebuild.

Picollo had this to say last week about potential changes when addressing the media:

I think when we look at our coaching staff, you want balance, different skill sets, different abilities that can work well together. It’s not to say that these guys don’t work well together. They do. They do work well. But we feel like if we’re able to maybe tweak it somehow, it might be making a change.

It might be adding something. It might be adding another person who has a different skill set.

But we spent a lot of time last week on the road talking about these things, and we don’t have a clear answer to that just yet.

But when we look at how we want to remake staffs, what are we missing? And what can we add? And how can we enhance so the guys that we have can do their job even better?

That was a bit of a long and winding answer, but it’s safe to say the Royals are looking for new voices, new philosophies, and basically, a brand new approach. The old balance, the old skill sets and abilities…those didn’t work. The team will be starting from scratch, but with the old boss still in charge.

I’m aware of what I’ve written about Zumwalt in that sacking a hitting coach generally feels like eyewash. It just doesn’t move the needle for me. Yet if the organization is going to be cashiering the entire hitting support staff, how does the lead guy survive? Wasn’t Zumwalt, as the Senior Director of Hitting Performance, responsible for coordinating and then implementing said philosophies and the instruction? I don’t know…if you’re going to decide the hitting coaches were the issue—and that’s clearly what the Royals have decided—it feels strange to let everyone go but the top dog.

Zumwalt has been in his current position since May of 2022, but he’s been in the Royals organization since 2011, starting out as a scout and then serving as their Major League advance scout from 2013 to 2017. He was the guy who first noted that Oakland Athletics starter Jon Lester wouldn’t—or couldn’t—make pickoff throws to first. The Royals swiped three bags off Lester in the 2014 AL Wild Card game. Zumwalt also delivered the infamous report that Toronto Blue Jays left fielder José Bautista often overthrew the cutoff man on balls hit right field. That set the stage for Lorenzo Cain to score from first on an Eric Hosmer single in Game Six of the 2015 ALCS.

After those successes, Zumwalt became the Royals director of baseball operations and then the director of hitting performance. He’s a baseball rat. He knows his stuff. He’s not just a hitting coach. He’s a guy who’s been around the game in various capacities over his career. Picollo feels he brings value to his current role.

I’m intrigued by who the Royals will bring in to be part of Zumwalt’s staff. From Rogers, here’s Picollo on what they will be looking for:

“We’re going to be looking for a diversity in thought, diversity in experience and a balance amongst the hitting department that allows us to have the greatest success we can possibly have based on coaching backgrounds,” Picollo said.

“As we get into the interview process, we’ll have a better idea and understanding of the talents of the people we are interviewing, which will allow us to make the best decisions on who and how many people will be on our staff.”

I think they’re going data and sports science heavy here. Someone who can analyze the data (and lordy, is there data to analyze) and then someone with a background in kinesiology who can truly break down the movements of the swing. DeRenne brought some of that, but I’m betting on someone with a, let’s say, intense knowledge of biomechanics will be on this staff. An advanced degree or two would probably be helpful.

Flip through the Royals 2025 media guide, and you’ll see that all three of the major league hitting coaches get some credit for the development of Bobby Witt Jr. and the continued production of Salvador Perez. After a breakout season from Maikel Garcia and after Vinnie Pasquantino took his performance to the next level, the Royals need a team to unlock Jac Caglianone while making sure Carter Jensen continues his major league development. As we saw from the offensive struggles from Caglianone and several other minor leaguers when making the jump to the big leagues, this is an area where the team cannot afford to miss.

This restocking of staff won’t quell the bloodlust some have for Zumwalt, but I’d say this resets the clock on his tenure as the Senior Director of Hitting Performance. Unless things go completely off the rails, the new team should have at least a season to prove their worth. And as I’ve written before, the Royals have proven themselves adept at revamping their pitching coaches with almost instant results. It’s worth it to attempt the same move on the hitting side.