Vice President - Major League Team Operations
Jeff Davenport enters his 31st year in professional baseball, 25th season with the Royals and third as Vice President of Major League Team Operations, after spending the previous 15 years as the Senior Director of Team Travel/Clubhouse Operations. He also serves on the Executive Board of the Royals Hall of Fame.
Davenport was the Hitting Coach for the Royals short-season club at Spokane in the Northwest League in 2000 and was named Manager of Team Travel in November 2000. Davenport was promoted to Director of Team Travel prior to the 2004 season and then to Senior Director of Team Travel in 2005. He was selected as the Travel Coordinator for the Major League All-Star tour of Japan in 2006.
Davenport began his professional baseball career in 1994 when he was signed as a free agent by the Boston Red Sox. He was a catcher in the Red Sox system until 1996, when he served part of the year as Boston’s Major League bullpen catcher. He coached in the Arizona Diamondbacks organization from 1997-98 and worked in their baseball operations department during the offseason. He spent the 1999 season as the bullpen catcher for the Chicago Cubs.
A native of Greenville, Ohio, Davenport received his bachelor’s degree in communications from Youngstown State (Ohio), where he played four seasons as a catcher. Davenport and his wife, Celine, reside in Overland Park, Kan., with their son, Jack.