Long time Rays organization mainstay and bench coach Matt Quatraro wins the job as the new manager of the Kansas City Royals. Over the last few years he made the short list for a number of teams, and he finally got a yes. I like that he took the more traditional route to manager:

Quatraro does have a past link to Royals owner John Sherman, who become a minority owner in Cleveland during Quatraro’s four-season tenure (2014-17) as the Indians’ assistant hitting coach. That stint in Cleveland was Quatraro’s only professional experience outside of the Rays organization, beginning when he was an eight-round pick for Tampa Bay in the 1996 draft. After seven years as a player, Quatraro then moved into the coaching ranks, working throughout the Rays’ farm system as a coach, hitting coordinator, catching instructor, and manager. He has spent the last five seasons on Tampa’s MLB coaching staff, first working as a third base coach before moving into the bench coach role prior to the 2019 season.

Yardbarker.com

He only played in the minors, and his stats look okay because he was always old for his level. The bench coach often serves as the strategist, so I expect that to be his strong suit. As a former catcher, he knows something about pitching. My guess is he knows the game very well, I’ll be interested to see how he handles the job from a peoples skills perspective.