The Royals have shaken up their coaching staff, firing hitting coach Mike Barnett and third base coach Luis Silverio after the season and moving bench coach Dave Owen to the third base coaching box.
The Royals hired former Blue Jays manager John Gibbons to be manager Trey Hillman's bench coach. Kevin Seitzer, who was an American League All-Star as a Royals rookie in 1987, when he tied for the league lead in hits, will replace Barnett as the hitting coach. Barnett's firing did not come as a surprise, as he was hired by former manager Buddy Bell and the young Royals hitters were making little progress under his tutelage. Mark Teahen's average fell from .285 in 2007 to .255 in 2008; Billy Butler went from .292 in 2007 to .27. Teahen struck out 131 times and Alex Gordon 120 times.
While the Royals hit .269, they had only a .320 on-base percentage and a .397 slugging percentage. After scoring 706 runs in 2007, they crossed the plate only 691 times in 2008.
Seitzer was the Diamondbacks' hitting coach for the first half of the 2007 season before he was fired.
Gibbons gives the Royals a former manager with American League knowledge to help out Hillman. Gibbons managed Toronto for 4 1/2 seasons before being fired June 20.
Owen's only previous North American coaching experience was as a minor league infield coordinator for three seasons with the Phillies. He was Hillman's bench coach for one season with Hokkaido in the Japan Pacific League.
Silverio, who has been in the Royals organization for 33 years, accepted a job in the organization to help young Latin American players make the transition into professional baseball. Silverio had been on the big-league staff since 2003, when then-manager Tony Pena hired him to be his first base coach.
