George Brett takes over as Kansas City Royals hitting coach

With the Kansas City Royals in free fall, having lost eight in a row and 12 of their last 13, it wasn’t going to be much longer before a change was made. Royals legend George Brett will take over as interim hitting coach, which ought to buy team management a little bit of favor with fans who remember the good ol’ days. He’ll be joined by Pedro Grifol.

The Royals are definitely in need of any type of offensive boost. They’ve scored only 16 runs in their eight-game skid and have only two home runs as a team since May 14. Mind you, two different players hit three home runs in their respective games on Wednesday.

George Brett is giving coaching a month.

The greatest player in Kansas City Royals history isn’t sure teaching is his forte and doesn’t know if players will listen.

Before hustling to the batting cage to start his job and greet well-wishers that included his former manager Whitey Herzog, the team’s high profile interim batting coach certainly gave a fiery acceptance speech.

“I’m scared to death right now, to be honest with you,” Brett said Thursday night. “But I’m looking forward to the challenge.”
This will be Brett’s first in-season coaching role, though he’s been the franchise’s vice president of baseball operations since retiring as a player following the 1993 season. He’s also worked as a volunteer coach at spring training for years and Yost said it was no celebrity stint.

George doesn’t come the second week in spring training and stay 10 days,” Yost said. “I’ve never seen a Hall of Famer with the work ethic that he has.

“George never half-ran a ball to first base in his life, George was never the last one out of the dugout in his life,” Yost added. “I’m just excited he’s here.”
One thing that was missing is the simple fact that Brett’s for many of his years in Kansas City was Charlie Lau. It will be interesting to see if he brings the same techniques he learned under Lau to the present day Royal hitters.