Splash Hits: Ned Yost returns

Plus, an update on Kyle Wright, Bobby Witt Jr. is on another list and the Royals unveil their new marketing slogan for 2025.

It’s Friday and the Royals pitchers and catchers have already settled into their spring training groove. Let’s go.

Of course I’m going to lead off with the return of Ned Yost. Earlier this week the Royals announced the winningest manager in club history would be returning to the team as a Senior Advisor to the General Manager.

And it turns out that Yost understands you. Really! He gets you. Especially if you needed to calm down after any of those ALDS games last October. He discussed how last year’s Royals team rekindled his desire to return to the game.

What happened was, you know, I was going about my retired life loving it. Watching the team last year was a lot of fun compared to years past. You just knew that they were building and growing and going through the year it was fun watching them.

And when we got to the playoffs, all of a sudden everything kind of changed. The two games against Baltimore were good, but I started feeling a lot of anxiety during that time. I mean, anxiety that I've never felt before. And I finally understood what it was like to be a fan.

You know, god, this is what fans feel. Then the Yankee series was just horrible for me because I was pulling so hard. At the end of the game, I'd have to go stand in the shower for a half hour just to try to calm down, right?

There’s only one player left on the roster who Yost has a personal connection to, yet he got pulled back in by a team that was truly fun to watch last season. After being away for five seasons, I think it’s kind of cool that Yost could rediscover that via the 2024 Royals. So much so that he then wanted to act on it.

It says a lot about our city and the Royals organization that guys like Yost can leave for a bit, but they end up coming back.

Yost says his role as a senior advisor will be focusing on the minor leagues.

Depending on whatever Matt needs, whatever JJ needs, but really I'm going to be here six weeks for spring training to kind of get re-familiarized with the minor league system, put faces to names, especially on the minor league side.

And then I'll probably spend five, six days a month in Triple A, five, six days a month in Double A and then go wherever, wherever they need me to go to watch.

There's a certain player that they need to watch. I want to kind of stay focused on the organizational catching because that's what I was a catcher and just kind of see how their development is coming.

As we know, he’s never been wrong about a young player. Maybe there’s a catching tree he can uncover.

Topical, given that I wrote about his attempted comeback yesterday, Quatraro was asked about Kyle Wright's progress in his return from shoulder surgery.

First of all, you got to appreciate the work he's put in…I mean, anybody that's gone through rehab understands there's a physical toll, but the mental toll is worse than the physical toll. And so what he's put in to get back out here, we're just watching him throw the other day, I told him drastically different from what you saw in September and he was feeling okay in September.

There's just going to be constant adjustments and hurdles to clear whether they're physical or mental, but to get him back out here and just to kind of feel like, okay, there's a chance for him to be on the mound and contributing and we know how good he was prior. So that's what really drives him and us.

…

Like most guys coming back from something, you don't expect it to be completely seamless and be able to just go on an upward trajectory. There's probably going to be some hiccups here and there, but I mean hopefully he clears and he's fresh to go and he can just say, hey, I'm good and he can let it rip and then we anticipate him being a normal guy.

This tracks with how I’ve thought about Wright: He’s ready when he’s ready. As he progresses, the Royals will have a better idea as to how to plan for what he can bring to the club going forward. For now, no one has any idea as to what they can expect. And that’s completely understandable.

Wright is scheduled to throw a bullpen on Friday.

Can I interest you in a GIF of Alec Marsh going through a pitcher fielding practice?

Nothing says “pitchers and catchers have reported” like a good PFP. Just like nothing says a newsletter is searching for premium content by posting a GIF of a PFP.

Does anyone know if the Yankees do something similar?

The Royals announced their new marketing campaign/team slogan for the upcoming season:

While I enjoy that the Royals have embraced the fountains (duh) these last couple of seasons with this slogan and the City Connects and whatnot, I’m not entirely certain what “Fountain Up” means. In connection to the intensity and the vibes. Whatever. It doesn’t have to make sense. It only has to connect to the team.

It’s a helluva lot better than True. Blue. Tradition.

As the MLB Network wraps up its listicle season, they unveiled their top 10 players in the league as of this very moment. Your top three are:

1. Shohei Ohtani

2. Aaron Judge

3. Bobby Witt Jr.

Yes, the same Bobby Witt Jr. who this very network deemed the fourth-best shortstop in the game, is now the third-best player. Make it make sense.