New staff, young team shapes Royals manager Matt Quartraro’s priorities at spring camp

This is a good year for the Royals to have baseball’s spring training return to a normal schedule after three years of shortened or revised calendars.

With a new manager, in first-year skipper Matt Quatraro, and several new members of the coaching staff, the Royals will use this time to get to know each other better.

“One thing I underestimated a little bit is it’s a big change for a lot of people, a lot of new faces,” Quatraro said. “I had the whole winter acclimate to that whole idea of change.

“It’s just being consistent, letting them know who we are and what things are important to us,” he continued. “And listening to what’s important to them. But it’s not going to be forced with meeting after meeting.”

Quatraro opened the lines of communication soon after he was hired in late October to replace Mike Matheny. The first call went to veteran leader and perennial All-Star Salvador Perez. After that, the process became a mixture of availability and location.

“Quite literally I game-planned it out by time zones,” Quatraro said. “Who is up early and who would I have to wait to call. ... These were brief introductory conversations. As the offseason went on, there were follow-ups on what’s important, and what they would like to see in the spring.”

Quatraro spoke with reporters at the Royals’ spring training facility on Tuesday, a day before pitchers and catchers were to officially report.

But most of the team has been working at the facility for several days, with some taking in the Chiefs’ Super Bowl LVII victory on Sunday in nearby Glendale. Quatraro, in his first major-league managerial job, has been on site for a week, and some players were here in January.

The new staff is the next step in the Royals’ evolution. Change on the field happened in a big way in 2022, when 13 players made their major-league debuts and 21 rookies appeared in games, tied for the third-most in franchise history. The team’s Les Milgram Player of the Year Award went to infielder Bobby Witt Jr., in his debut season.

Infielder Nicky Lopez, starting his fifth season, said opening the year with a younger roster — the Royals had baseball’s third-youngest pitching staff and eight-youngest position-player group in 2022, according to baseball-reference.com — brings a fresh approach.

“When I made my debut we had a lot of guys who knew they weren’t going to be here long term, a lot of guys who were maybe trade-baiters,” Lopez said. “But these guys that are here are going to be staying. These core guys are going to be for a while. It’s exciting knowing this going to be our team moving forward.”

The Royals’ emphasis on pitching will be obvious as camp opens. There are 24 pitchers on the 40-man roster, the most that executive vice president and general manager J.J. Picollo can remember since he joined the organization in 2006.

“That was very intentional,” Picollo said. “Now, keeping them all healthy and having healthy competition for the last couple of spots in the rotation and last couple of spots in our bullpen, our pitchers know they have to be focused from the get-go.”