After serving as a Kansas City Royals hitting coach for a majority of the past five seasons, Alec Zumwalt was removed from his post Tuesday but will remain in the organization, The Athletic reported.
Zumwalt’s departure from a bench role comes after the Royals had a top-10 team batting average at .247 this past season. Kansas City finished in last place in the American League Central after their pitchers had a 4.77 ERA, which was 27th among all 30 MLB clubs.
The Royals are expected to retain hitting coaches Connor Dawson and Marcus Thames.
Zumwalt, 45, was both an outfielder and pitcher over nine minor league seasons from 1999 through 2007 and a year of independent ball in 2008. He became a scout for the Royals and moved into the hitting coach role in May 2022 in place of Terry Bradshaw.
Zumwalt is expected to return to his previous role as senior director of hitting performance, according to the report.
