Royals Add Hunter Mense to Coaching Staff

On Thursday afternoon, MLB Insider Mark Feisand announced that Hunter Mense would be joining the Royals' coaching staff as another hitting coach. The Royals had an open spot on the coaching staff after they parted ways with former hitting coach Alec Zumwalt at the conclusion of last season.

Feisand clarified that Mense would serve as an assistant hitting coach.

Mense will serve as an assistant hitting coach alongside Marcus Thames, who came to Kansas City last year in the same role. Connor Dawson, who was an assistant hitting coach, will be elevated to the role of "offensive coordinator."

This will be the first time the Royals have employed a coach with such a title. The Rangers, Blue Jays, Mariners, and Angels have had offensive coordinators on their coaching staff in the past. 

Mense has experience working with an offensive coordinator, as he was an assistant coach in Toronto when Don Mattingly served as the Blue Jays' offensive coordinator. In Mense's last year in Toronto, he helped the Blue Jays not only win an AL Pennant, but also finish fourth in baseball in wRC+. 

The San Francisco Giants hired Mense as their hitting coach last year under new manager Tony Vitello. However, the Giants' offense struggled, ranking 23rd in wRC+, according to Fangraphs. That said, the Giants had significant roster turnover and injuries that seemed to cap their ceiling last season.

The Royals ranked 19th in wRC+ last year with a 98 mark. That mark was five points better than their 2025 wRC+, when they ranked 24th in the league. 

Mense is a local product, as he attended Liberty High School in Liberty, MO, and the University of Mizzou for college. He played five seasons in the Marlins' minor league system and finished his career with the Kansas City T-Bones of the independent Northern League in 2010.

After retiring, he began his coaching career at Mizzou as an assistant. Mense transitioned to professional baseball, spending seven seasons in the Blue Jays' organization. That included stints as the hitting coach for the Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats, serving as the Jays' Minor League Hitting Coordinator from 2019 to 2021, and then as an assistant hitting coach for the Jays from 2022 to 2025.

Zumwalt returned to the Royals' Minor League system, where he will serve as the Senior Director of Hitting Performance/Player Development.