KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Royals hitting staff has been finalized after making another hire on Monday.
The Royals hired Marcus Thames to serve us a hitting coach under Alec Zumwalt, the senior director of hitting performance and hitting coach. This comes just three days after hiring Connor Dawson as a hitting coach.
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Thames has spent a lot of time in the Majors as a player and hitting coach. Most recently, he was the hitting coach for the Chicago White Sox for 2024 and 2025.
He also spent time as hitting coach for the New York Yankees, Miami Marlins and Los Angeles Angels. During his time with the Yankees (2016-2021), they led the MLB in home runs. While with the Angels in 2023, they were third in the AL in home runs and fifth in slugging percentage.
Thames also played in the MLB for 10 seasons, suiting up for the Yankees, Rangers, Dodgers and Tigers.
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He joins a revamped Royals hitting staff led by Zumwalt as he looks to help boost an offense that has struggled over the past season and a half despite having talent.
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In 2025, They averaged 4.02 runs per game this season, which was good for 26th in the Majors. They were also 26th with 159 home runs and 15th in batting average at .247.
Back in October, the club chose not to re-sign assistant hitting coaches Keoni DeRenne and Joe Dillon. Royals GM J.J. Picollo has maintained confident in Zumwalt, but previously stated there would be changes to the staff.
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The Royals have now made those changes, hoping it leads to results for the 2026 season.
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