Why Paul Molitor should be next manager of Kansas City Royals
By Cody Rickman
The Kansas City Royals are most likely to make an internal hire to fill the vacated managerial position following Ned Yost’s retirement.
If the Kansas City Royals look to hire from outside the organization they should hire Hall of Famer, 2017 AL Manager of the Year, and former Minnesota Twins manager Paul Molitor.
With seven managerial positions opening this offseason (Angels, Cubs, Giants, Mets, Padres, Pirates, and Royals), the much talked about managerial choices of Joe Maddon (prediction: Angels) and Joe Girardi (prediction: Cubs) will likely be hired elsewhere. The Kansas City Royals could look to former division manager to lead the next competitive roster.
Credentials
Following the 2018 season the Minnesota Twins fired Paul Molitor with two years remaining on his contract after a 78-84 record.
Molitor led the Twins to two dramatic turnarounds with his improvement of the Twins’ record following his hiring in 2015 (70 wins in 2014 to 83 wins in Molitor’s first year) and in 2017 (59 wins in 2016 to 85 wins in 2017) resulting in Molitor being awarded the 2017 AL Manager of the Year. Molitor finished his 4-year managerial stint with the Twins with a 305 – 343 record.
As a player Molitor is notably in the Hall of Fame because of his exceptionable ability to hit (ninth all-time with 3,319 with a career average of .306) and exceptional speed (504 career stolen bases).
After retiring, Molitor spent the time (2005 – 2013) grinding away as a roving instructor (baserunning and fielding) in the Twins’ minor league system, 2004 season as a hitting coach with the Seattle Mariners, and 2014 year as an assistant (baserunning, bunting, infield instruction, and positioning) on Ron Gardenhire’s staff with the Twins.
Paul Molitor’s instincts, attention to detail, and willingness to do the little things allowed him to overcome his shortcomings to become a Hall of Fame player and successful manager with Minnesota Twins.
Molitor has similar values with Ned Yost in regards to weaponizing the base-paths with speed and small ball. Molitor showed similar aggressiveness in his managerial stint to move runners over via stealing even though his roster’s speed didn’t have the same baserunning ability as Ned Yost’s Royals during the same timeframe.
Molitor also utilized sacrifice bunting at a higher rate than Yost during the four-year period (2015 – 2018), suggesting Molitor will put his players in positions to score when runs are coming at a premium.
Sabermetrics/Offense/Fielding Shifts
Molitor showed the willingness and progressiveness to embrace sabermetrics in positioning his fielders in shifts. Molitor was also instrumental in the Twins offensive philosophical shift to running up pitch counts and walking as much as possible.
When Molitor began his tenure with the Twins in 2015, their batters saw their pitches seen per plate appearance rise each season from 3.83 in 2015 to 3.99 in 2018. This offensively philosophy has been utilized successfully by the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Oakland Athletics in recent years to drive their offensive success.
The Royals, during their World Series campaigns, were known for their aggressiveness and ability to make consistent contact. The current Royals roster has significantly more swing and miss, but also more power. If the Royals combine Molitor’s plate approach philosophy to their defense, speed, and developing power bats, they will be very intriguing positionally.
Pitching Management
The judgement of managerial decisions for pitcher usage is a difficult and subjective process. During Ned Yost’s managerial career with the Royals, I found myself conflicted about how Yost utilized his pitching staff and bullpen. I felt some pitchers weren’t pulled fast enough, used in wrong situations, and overused during Yost’s tenure.
During the timeframe (2015 – 2018), when Molitor and Yost were managing, Yost had the superior pitching staff and bullpen yet during that time Molitor was able to manage his teams to two winning seasons (2015 and 2017) and a respectable 78-84 record in 2018 with an inferior pitching staff.
Yost was only able get one winning season (World Series champions in 2015) out of his pitching staff during the same four-year period. Molitor didn’t overuse his bullpen and put pitchers into situations to achieve statistical success.
Prospect Development
The 2016 Minnesota Twins saw the team struggle to a 59 – 103 overall record with many of the Twins top prospects (Byron Buxton, Max Kepler, Miguel Sano, Eddie Rosario, Jorge Polanco, and Jose Berrios) seeing increases in playing time.
The Twins struggled, but Paul Molitor allowed his young prospects to gain valuable development time. The development of these prospects paid off in 2017, as the Twins went on to an 85 – 77 overall record gaining a playoff spot in the Wild Card game, earning Molitor the AL Manager of the Year award.
Each of the Twins prospects (Byron Buxton, Max Kepler, Miguel Sano, Eddie Rosario, Jorge Polanco, and Jose Berrios) saw their playing time increase again and their development led the team to success. Molitor has shown the ability to develop talent at the MLB level and would be an asset in the development of the Royals current roster and incoming prospects looking to break onto the MLB roster in 2021.
Overall
If the Kansas City Royals decide to hire outside of the organization they should look into hiring Paul Molitor the St. Paul, Minnesota native. Molitor has shown the ability to maximize the performance of his roster, develop talent, and embrace analytics to achieve success.
Molitor could be the steward the Royals front office is searching for to lead the next Royals championship contender.