J.J. Picollo Explains Royals' Plan for Hitting Staff in 2027

Getting hits was not the biggest problem for the Kansas City Royals this season, but turning those hits into runs was, and that is a big reason the hitting staff will look different in 2027.

Kansas City ranked second in the American League in batting average, yet it finished 22nd in the majors with 690 runs, and a slow start did a lot of the damage since the Royals were 22-37 at the end of May with 221 runs scored, which MLB.com said was the fewest in the league to that point.

On Tuesday, Sept. 29, the Royals said hitting coach Alec Zumwalt would be reassigned within the organization, though he keeps his title as senior director of hitting performance.

Zumwalt first joined the Royals as a scout in 2013 and became the big league hitting coach in 2022.

General manager J.J. Picollo said at the end-of-season press conference the next day that the move had been expected since the day Zumwalt reached the majors.

When the club went looking for two assistants last winter, Picollo said, it wanted coaches who could be the long-term answer, and that search brought in hitting coaches Marcus Thames and Connor Dawson.

Thames had been the White Sox hitting coach for the two seasons before he arrived and spent 2016 through 2021 on the Yankees' big league staff, while Dawson came home to Kansas City after four seasons as a hitting coach with the Brewers.

The club planned to add another assistant hitting coach in the following weeks, and Picollo explained how that hire will fit with the two coaches already in place.

"We have a good idea of what we think Marcus' strengths are and Connor's strengths are, and now you just fill in the gaps and try to put the best working team together."

When the Royals hired Thames in November 2025, MLB.com described Dawson as highly analytical with a new-school approach, while Thames was expected to bring experience.

I like this plan because the front office already has two different voices in the room, and building the third spot around what those two do not cover makes more sense than tearing the group down after one bad year.

The offense did move forward a little, since Kansas City ranked 26th in runs per game in 2025, and I see the jump to 22nd as real progress even if it falls short for a team with this much talent at the top of the lineup.

Health was a problem for this lineup all year too, as third baseman Maikel Garcia played in just 82 games during a down year slowed by injuries.

One more coach will not fix everything, and Picollo said at that same press conference that the Royals plan to be aggressive in adding players this winter, while the outfield needs more help at the plate after a weak year there.

The stretch I care about most is April and May, because this club sat at 22-37 at the end of May, and if the staff can get the lineup going early, the Royals will not spend another summer climbing out of a hole.