Matheny May Manage Royals After 2019

by John Unrein

Mike Matheny was recently hired by the Kansas City Royals as Special Advisor for Player Development. This raised eyebrows as Ned Yost’s current contract runs through the 2019 season.

Logic suggests that Matheny becomes the manager in waiting to guide the team through the heart of their next rebuilding process. Matheny’s current role will allow him to get to know players, have a feel for the current talent across all levels of the organization, and be included in day to day decisions.

Matheny’s resume as a player and manager has merit. He won four gold gloves as a catcher with four different organizations from 1994 through 2006. The former St. Louis Cardinals skipper finished in second place for National League Manager of the Year in 2015.

This followed him leading his team to the playoffs in each of his first four years at the wheel. He is also one of the winningest managers in the history of major league baseball through his first 1,000 games. The Cardinals fired Matheny in July. This followed a 47-46 record to start the season. His team had not reached the playoffs since 2015. Rumors contributing to Matheny’s release by the Cardinals included being ranked last in the National League in team defense at the end of the 2018 season.

The team committed a National League high 133 errors along with ranking last in team fielding percentage at .978. The corrosion of solid defense played by the Cardinals was apparent from the start of the season under Matheny.

Current Royals manager Ned Yost shares a special place in team history. He oversaw the team’s ascension to back to back World Series appearances during the 2014 and 2015 seasons. The Kansas City Royals were crowned World Series Champions in 2015 after defeating the New York Mets in five games.

Yost suffered a scary fall from a deer stand ending in a broken pelvis and a long recovery last off-season. Yost’s recipe for success as the organization’s manager has included playing solid defense, being aggressive on the base paths with the team’s speed, and looking for elevated pitches or fastballs early in the count on offense for batters to hit.

There are benefits to former catchers being major league managers. Yost and Matheny both share these traits. They understand how to call a game behind the dish.

Pitching sequences by location and type of pitch is something they know without being predictable. When and how to do a defensive shift is something that’s second nature to them since catchers typically signal those adjustments to the team as it’s relayed from the dugout.

They’ve heard a ton of advice be offered by managers and pitching coaches during high stress situations as being a part of the conference on the mound. Catchers know who should receive the cut off throw from the outfield as they are usually the one shouting the instruction. Their defensive minds are aware of during what pitching counts certain teams like to steal or attempt a double steal.

Catchers usually endure more wear and tear on their body in comparison to other position players. These are the rigors of squatting behind home plate regularly along with trying to contribute offensively to their team.

They know the difference between being hurt versus injured as well as anyone.

Yost and Matheny both managed in the National League. They had to make decisions without a designated hitter in the lineup or when and if to pinch hit for pitchers.

The double switch and late inning player substitutions are not foreign to them either. There aren’t many conceivable situations they can come across they haven’t seen before and handled with success.

All of this matters. Yost at age 64 and Matheny at age 48 have forgotten more baseball than most people know. General Manager Dayton Moore appears to have a plan in place for leading the Royals into the future.