Quatraro runner-up for AL MOY after getting KC back to postseason

KANSAS CITY -- Matt Quatraro’s first year as a big league manager didn’t go very well, at least in terms of a win-loss record.

Matching a franchise record with 106 losses certainly wasn’t in the vision he, general manager J.J. Picollo or anyone within the organization had for 2023.

In 2024, though, Quatraro’s Royals made a remarkable turnaround, winning 86 games and making it to the postseason -- a 30-win improvement and the first postseason berth for Kansas City in nine years.

That made Quatraro worthy of a second-place finish in the American League Manager of the Year voting, announced Tuesday night by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America on MLB Network.

The AL Central dominated the ballot, with Cleveland’s Stephen Vogt taking home the award in his first year as manager. Tigers skipper A.J. Hinch finished third.

• All-time Manager of the Year Award winners

Ballots were cast before the start of the postseason. They are tabulated on a system that awards five points for first place, three points for second place and one point for third place. Vogt received 142 points total -- that included 27 first-place votes -- compared to Quatraro’s 73 points, which included just two first-place votes and 19 second-place votes. Hinch finished with 41 points.

Houston’s Joe Espada, New York’s Aaron Boone, Mark Kotsay of the Athletics, Minnesota’s Rocco Baldelli and Boston’s Alex Cora also received votes among the 30 individual ballots.

The 2024 Royals were just the third team to make the postseason following a 100-loss season, joining the 2020 Marlins and the ’17 Twins. The Royals’ 86 wins in ’24 marked the third most by a team following a 100-loss season, only one shy of the 1967 Cubs and the ’89 Orioles, who each won 87 games after 103- and 107-loss seasons, respectively.

With Quatraro at the helm, the Royals swept the Orioles in the AL Wild Card Series before losing to the Yankees in four games in the AL Division Series.

The Royals brought in quite a different group in 2024 with a major overhaul last offseason, so Quatraro and his staff had to manage a blend of young players still establishing themselves in the Majors and veterans coming to Kansas City for the first time.

The chemistry was evident from Day 1 of Spring Training, but it was a different culture, with different objectives throughout the season and different stakes. Quatraro was the same manager, a steady and reliable presence who urged his players to only focus on the day they had in front of them and doing everything they could to get better and win.

That consistency is how Quatraro earned the respect of his clubhouse and got players to buy into the process. As he maneuvered the bullpen through adversity in the middle of the summer to the strength of the club at the end of the year, and as he mixed and matched the lineup to ignite a spark down the stretch, Quatraro used the entire 26-man roster, and urged the front office to use the entire 40-man roster when it was warranted. Players bought into his process and saw the results follow.

Tony Peña in 2003 is the only Royals manager to win the Manager of the Year Award, when he led the team to a 83-79 record and their first winning season since 1994.

Quatraro is not the only Royal up for a BBWAA award this week. Seth Lugo is an AL Cy Young finalist along with the Tigers’ Tarik Skubal and the Guardians’ Emmanuel Clase. The winner will be announced Wednesday. And on Thursday, the AL MVP will be announced, with Bobby Witt Jr. a finalist alongside the Yankees’ Aaron Judge and Juan Soto.