Kansas City Royals: How return of Rusty Kuntz helps with rebuild

Rusty Kuntz is returning to his duties as one of the best first base, outfield, and baserunning coaches in the game to complete Mike Matheny’s first Kansas City Royals managerial staffs.

The Kansas City Royals elevated Mitch Maier to a front office position as the director of baseball operations leaving an opening at first base coach.

Mike Matheny who spent most of 2019 on the road with Rusty Kuntz as a special advisor to the general manager Dayton Moore only needed to ask his road warrior partner to join the staff.

Thus, reuniting the Royals with the first base coach who oversaw the development of the most successful baserunning and defensive outfield teams during his 2013 – 2017 coaching tenure.

Rusty Kuntz is one of the most liked and well-respected coaches in the MLB. After playing seven seasons in the MLB (winning a world championship with the 1984 Detroit Tigers), Rusty embarked on a first base coaching odyssey that featured stops in Seattle (1989 – 1992), Florida (1995 – 1996, 1999 – 2000), Pittsburgh (2003 – 2004), and finally the Royals (2008 – 2009, 2013 – 2017). Kuntz has also spent time as an outfield, bunting, baserunning coach in addition to being a special advisor to the general manager during his coaching career.

If you’ve observed how Rusty has coached from first base you’ll have seen him with his stop watch and constant communication with the baserunning. Rusty has coached his baserunners to considerable success at each stop he has made and he’s improved at spotting the best times to run along the way.

• Seattle Mariners (1989 – 1992): 336 steals of second base out of 512 chances (65.62%)
• Florida Marlins (1995 – 1996, 1999 – 2000): 433 steals of second base out of 610 chances (70.98%)
• Pittsburgh Pirates (2003 – 2004): 127 steals of second base out of 192 chances (66.14%)
• Kansas City Royals (2008 – 2009, 2013 – 2017): 646 steals of second base out of 852 chances (75.82%)

Particularly of interest with the baserunning statistics happened during Rusty’s 2013 – 2017 stint as the Royals first base coach. The Royals led the league in stolen base percentage, wSB, and were second overall in stolen bases and Spd statistical rankings.

The Royals most successful run as a contending team (2013 – 2016) had a great deal to do with how they were able to take advantage on the base-paths and terrorize opposing pitchers. Rusty Kuntz put players like Alcides Escobar, Lorenzo Cain, Alex Gordon, Jarrod Dyson, and Eric Hosmer in position to steal an extra bag by stretching a single into a double or reading the opposing pitcher’s mechanics to send the runner on a stolen base attempt.

Some of Rusty’s most appreciated work as a coach came in the form of his outfield defensive work he did with the Royals. Alex Gordon made the transition to a full-time left fielder in 2010 under the tutelage of Rusty Kuntz and developed into a seven-time gold glove award winner.

The 2011 Royals outfield consisted of three starters who had double digit outfield assists (Alex Gordon – 23, Jeff Francouer – 16, and Melky Cabrera – 13) and were considered one of the best outfields both offensively and defensively.

The Royals outfield defense was a large part of their success during their contending run from 2013 – 2016, where it appeared very unlikely for a ball hit to the outfield to drop between Alex Gordon, Jarrod Dyson, and Lorenzo Cain at the end of the game. Kuntz was in large part responsible getting these players into position to be successful in the largest outfield by square footage in the MLB.

Outlook

Rusty Kuntz will be tasked with getting the most out his baserunners and outfield in 2020. There is likely chance the 2020 Royals will play Jorge Soler more often in right field and Kuntz is the right man for the job getting him into position to be successful.

With the possibility of Alex Gordon’s retirement looming over the heads of the Royals front office an outfield in transition is very likely. Rusty Kuntz will be instrumental in preparing Whit Merrifield, Brett Phillips, Bubba Starling, Jorge Soler, Ryan McBroom, and Hunter Dozier acclimated to playing outstanding defense. Defensively this outfield has a chance to stellar.

The 2020 Royals will be rostering a considerable amount of speed on the bath-paths and I have no doubt Rusty will put these guys into the best possible position to steal bases.

The path back to success for the Royals will start with exceptional defense and baserunning. The hitting and the power has begun to develop, but they are subject to cold streaks. Defense and speed don’t take days off and go on cold streaks. If the Kansas City Royals can build off of the little things as Rusty Kuntz is one of the best at coaching, then the other successes will start to fall in line for Royals.