Longtime SF Giants coach lands a new role with the Kansas City Royals

A former SF Giants coach has landed a new role for 2023. The Kansas City Royals announced that Longtime coach José Alguacil has been added to manager Matt Quatraro's coaching staff as an infield coach.

Longtime SF Giants coach lands a new role with the Kansas City Royals

Quatraro is a first-time manager, so building a coaching staff with experience will help in his transition. The 49-year-old manager took over for longtime skipper Mike Matheny, who was relieved of his duties at the end of the 2022 season.

The Royals are very much in a transition phase as both Matheny and veteran front office executive Dayton Moore were fired at the end of the year after posting a disappointing 65-97 season. The Royals reached the World Series in consecutive years, beginning in 2014. However, they have not reached the postseason in the last seven seasons.

Giants fans know how that 2014 World Series went as San Francisco secured their third championship in five seasons. The Royals did win the 2015 World Series against the New York Mets in five games in 2015, so they did etch their name in history.

Kansas City will look to right the ship with new leadership. Quatraro was a finalist for the Giants' gig after the 2019 season, but that job went to Gabe Kapler instead. Quatraro will be bringing a familiar name with him in José Alguacil.

Alguacil began his professional career as a middle infielder in the Giants organization. He remained with the organization until 1998 before landing with the Chicago White Sox organization a couple of years later. He finished his pro career in the Atlantic League but never stepped too far away from baseball.

The 50-year-old coach rejoined the Giants organization in 2007 after managing the Vermont Expos for three seasons. He served as an minor league infield coordinator before becoming the skipper of the Richmond Flying Squirrels and the Sacramento River Cats in 2015 and 2016, respectively.

San Francisco was very high on Alguacil as he was promoted to first base coach for the 2017 season and served in that capacity for the next three years. At one point, the former infielder was considered a potential successor to Bruce Bochy.

When Gabe Kapler took over, Alguacil was not retained on the coaching staff. He did not remain out of the job for long. Alguacil was hired as a rover infield instructor for the Washginton Nationals last year before landing a new gig with Kansas City.

Alguacil has a lot of experience as a coach in baseball, so this feels like a good hire for Matt Quatraro. Plus, it is great to see the veteran coach on a major league staff again. He was well-received during his time with the Giants.