Royals fans outraged after J.J. Picollo’s coaching staff announcement for 2026

The MLB postseason may be grabbing the attention of the baseball world, including Royals fans who might be searching for reasons to follow closely.

But while all the hustle and bustle of October baseball may be underway, the Royals faithful got to hear from GM J.J. Picollo and manager Matt Quatraro in their annual end of season press conference on Tuesday.

Kansas City’s brain trust covered plenty of ground including touching upon their offense and the fact improvements need to made this offseason after what was an overall disappointing year at the plate.

“We’ve got to learn from it, build on it and move on from here,” Picollo said when addressing his squad’s offensive shortcomings.

One way that many fans have been clamoring for for awhile now would be some changing in the coaching staff, specifically hitting coach Alec Zumwalt.

However, after Tuesday’s presser, the likelihood of that change occurring seems unlikely, leaving the fanbase in a state of discontent before the offseason has even really begun.

Royals fans outraged over announcement that Alec Zumwalt will remain in KC in 2026

According to MLB.com’s Anne Rogers, Zumwalt is among the group of coaches that Picollo said will be back in the dugout come 2026.

“We’ve got to make some decisions on the hitting side,’” Picollo said. “What I will say is, Alec Zumwalt is going to be our hitting coach.”

In fact, not only did KC’s GM ensure Zumwalt’s job security, he went on to rave about his coaching ability.

“He’s a tireless worker, which they all are,” he said. “His creativity, his game planning, his relationship-building abilities all really stand out.”

After finishing in the bottom 10 in the league in team wRC+ (T-22nd at 93), runs scored (26th at 651) and home runs (26th at 159), as well as in the bottom half in OPS (T-19th in at .706), fans were less than pleased about the news to put things lightly.

And then there were just the responses to Rogers’ report on X.

Now, perhaps the reasoning for Zumwalt’s return is the fact that the Royals did show improvements in the second half of the season.

They finished in the top half of teams in wRC+ (11th at 106), OPS (8th at .753), runs scored (7th at 323) and home runs (10th at 86).

Still, they weren’t without their dry spells though, especially when it mattered most and they won just three of 11 games during a pivotal Wild Card stretch from Sept. 7 to 18, which effectively took them out of the Wild Card race. In that span they ranked 20th in wRC+ and OPS, 23rd in runs scored and T-19th in homers.

Time will tell if Picollo will be rewarded for his loyalty to his existing dugout leaders. In the meantime though, he didn’t win over his fanbase with the news.