Joe Dillon joins Royals as assistant hitting coach

KANSAS CITY -- The Royals added another hitting voice to the dugout by hiring Joe Dillon as their assistant hitting coach on Thursday, the team announced.

Dillon will join hitting coach Alec Zumwalt and fellow assistant hitting coach Keoni DeRenne in guiding the Royals’ Major League hitters. Manager Matt Quatraro said Thursday that all his coaches from last season would return in 2024, as expected, and he doesn’t expect another addition to the staff.

Dillon, 48, spent the past two seasons as Washington’s Minor League hitting coordinator, returning to the organization after two years as the Nationals’ assistant hitting coach from 2018-19. After the Nats won the ‘19 World Series with Dillon as one of their hitting coaches, he moved on to become the Phillies' hitting coach from ‘20-21.

As Quatraro and his staff evaluated the 2023 season, which was the first year for many of the coaches in their current role, they realized a veteran coach could be useful. And one need that arose in conversations was someone well-versed in swing mechanics, especially when understanding the breakdown of duties for each coach’s pregame work with hitters. Zumwalt and DeRenne focus heavily on game-planning and approach -- which Royals hitters really enjoy and view as useful -- as well as the physical component of throwing batting practice and facilitating high-velocity machine work.

The Royals’ pitching department has three main coaches with pitching coach Brian Sweeney, assistant pitching coach Zach Bove and bullpen coach Mitch Stetter, as well as analysts. Dillon now offers the hitters another voice as more information becomes available from an expanding research and development department.

“Basically what it comes down to is, the demands of the position are getting greater every year, because there’s more data, more biomechanics -- the hitters have a better knowledge of what they do and what they need and want,” Quatraro said. “So we’re trying to meet as many players as we can. We listened to what the coaches thought and wanted, and what we targeted were basically those things -- someone who had big league experience, some reps as a Major League hitting coach, someone who had a good feel for relating to young players, but has also dealt with bonafide Major League players.”

Dillon was part of five organizations during his 12-year playing career, first selected by the Royals in the seventh round of the 1997 Draft. He spent the first five seasons of his pro career in Kansas City’s organization, but he made his Major League debut with the Marlins in 2005. Dillon also played parts of two seasons in the Majors with Milwaukee from ‘07-08, one season with Tampa Bay in ‘09 and one season in Japan.

Dillon ended his playing career in 2010 with Tampa Bay’s Triple-A affiliate -- when Quatraro was the Rays' Minor League hitting coordinator. Dillon was also teammates with Zumwalt, Stetter and bench coach Paul Hoover at various points of his career.

“Q and his staff, the people in the organization, are what attracted me to Kansas City,” Dillon said. “Great baseball people, and the way Q runs his staff, we’re all working together in a collaborative effort, individualized to the players. I think we align in the way we think about the game and the players and the way we do things.”

Dillon’s professional coaching career began in 2014 as a Triple-A hitting coach for Washington. From ‘16-17, he was the Minor League hitting coordinator for Miami before returning to the Nationals.

Dillon has worked with young hitters and superstars like Bryce Harper and every hitter in between -- experience that the Royals liked when vetting the coach. His coaching style lines up with Zumwalt’s and the Royals in that it’s individualized to each hitter every day.

“I don’t think there’s just one way to stamp it,” Dillon said. “Everybody’s different, everyone processes information [differently], everyone moves different. The way we all align is we know there are certain things foundationally that everybody has to do -- being on time, making good decisions with the right pitches, having a neutral bat path, being able to move efficiently. All those things that everybody needs to do, it’s just how you attack it and individualize it for that player and how they process and move.”