Coaching vs Playing

With the signing (and re-signing) of multiple free agent pitchers, the Royals now have a nice deep rotation that should enable the best pitchers to make the team and eat up some innings in hopes of giving the vaunted (and overused) bullpen some rest. Some of those pitchers are coming back from injuries and understandably come with a set of question marks, but does anyone really doubt the wizardry of pitching coach Dave Eiland? He has created too many success stories to count. Not to mention, Ned Yost seems to have managed to find a way to bring out the best in many of his players, especially after everyone else has given up on them. 

All of which begs the question: How do the Royals coaches create so much magic? Are they wizards? Did they sell their souls in exchange for special coaching powers? Or, perhaps, were they all superior athletes who have the ability to translate their skills onto their players? I was curious, so I thought I would take a look at the Royals’ coaches playing careers:

Rusty Kuntz, “Mr. Handsome”

Russell Jay Kuntz played parts of 7 years in the MLB as an outfielder, logging a grand total of 5 home runs, 104 hits, and a career batting average of .236, which was worth -0.8 Wins Against Replacement. I’m guessing his career was so short due to Omar Infante-like levels of offensive production. However, one does not simply make it to the Majors with no marketable skills, and it appears that Rusty was a decent fielder, committing only 5 total errors while garnering 8 assists. His career fielding percentage is 98.5% which is acceptable considering he played in over 1100 innings. Rusty has shown a propensity for being a better coach than player, and I am not sure if he is a natural at coaching, or if he is looking for revenge on his former teams, which happen to be the Tigers, White Sox and Twins. 

Rusty, the ridiculously good-looking Royals coach

Dave Eiland, “The Wizard”

David William Eiland was drafted by the New York Yankees in 1987 and pitched in parts of 10 years in the MLB before moving into coaching. His career record as a starter is 12-27 (yikes) with an overall ERA of 5.74. Sounds like he could have pitched for the Royals in the early 2000s! He threw 153 strikeouts in 92 games, which I suppose is pretty good considering he only gave up 46 home runs. He also issued 118 walks and 465 hits, good for a career WHIP of 1.56 and -2.4 WAR, which is pretty awful and reminds me of Luke Hochevar’s early years as a starter. Dave pitched poor enough that he was demoted to the minors for 3 separate seasons during his 10-year stint in the Majors. Interestingly enough, he was the 1990 Pitcher of the Year for the International League (Minors) and he has hit one career home run, which occurred in 1992 while a member of the Padres. It is pretty clear that Dave is a much better coach than player and has helped the Royals develop and rehabilitate pitchers since 2011, including Chris Young, Ryan Madson, Jeremy Guthrie, Jason Vargas, Yordano Ventura, Wade Davis, and Hochevar. 

Dave, the Wizard of Kauffman

Dale Sveum, “The Hitting Savior”

Dale Curtis Sveum was the 25th overall selection in the 1982 amateur draft. He played parts of 12 years in the Majors, logging most of his time at shortstop and third base. Dale smacked 69 home runs with a career batting average of .236, tying him with Rusty Kuntz for the coveted Best Career Batting Average among Royals coaches. Dale was worth -2.3 WAR over his playing career, which was the longest of all Royals’ coaches. He was brought in as the hitting coach in 2014, when the Royals were trotting out a carousel of hitting coaches (6 different ones in an 18 month period!). Considering the Royals just won a World Series with Sveum, he is clearly good at what he does. I think it is safe to say he is a better coach than player. 

Dale, the Royals' Hitting Savior

Ned Yost, "El Capitan"

Edgar Frederick Yost was the 7th pick of the 1974 June secondary amateur draft. Yeah, I did not know that either. Ned played parts of 6 years in the Majors, all as a catcher (and sometimes DH), hitting 16 home runs with a career batting average of .212, which was worth -3.7 WAR. He also committed 16 errors behind the plate, so in an odd coincidence, both Ned and Rusty have a pristine Home Run to Error Ratio (HRTE) of 1.00. I highly doubt that many other pro MLB players have an HRTE of exactly 1.00 so we Royals fans should feel lucky (just to pull out some random names, David Dejesus’ HRTE is 4.13, George Brett’s is 1.09, Alex Gordon’s is 2.35 and Chris Getz’s is a comical 0.13).  

As a manager, Capt. Ned has a career record of 925-971, including 468-469 as the Royals skipper. He also has the most wins in Royals history as a manager and the highest winning percentage in the MLB postseason history. Quite an accomplishment for a guy with an HRTE of 1.00! We see yet again a successful Royals coach who was not a good player. 

Captain Ned

The other Royals coaches do not have much MLB playing experience (Don Wakamatsu played in 18 games in 1991 for the White Sox and produced an OPS+ of 34). Overall, they are worth -9.5 WAR. I wonder how many WAR other teams' coaches are worth. Obviously, being a good player is not a requirement for being a good coach, and it’s pretty clear the Royals coaches are very adept despite playing careers that left much to be desired.