LARNED — When all else fails ... change your batting coach!
The Royals’ bats came alive after Dale Sveum was named as batting coach.
Is he a genius or is this pure coincidence?
More than likely, coincidence gets the nod here. The Royals are hitting like ... well, like major leaguers!
Remember, it was only a short time ago that the brass of the Royals made the same kind of change, installing Hall of Famer George Brett as the batting coach and the Boys In Blue went on a hitting rampage that brought memories of Mickey Mantle and Willy Mays.
Well, maybe more like Frank White and Billy Martin.
Whatever, the Royals went on a hitting spree that made the move to Brett look brilliant.
Trouble was, it didn’t last, though it was no cause of George Brett, the best hitter in Royals history.
The bad news is that the Royals are struggling to stay out of the American League Central basement.
The good news is that the rest of the division, with the exception of Detroit, is in much the same straights.
A long winning streak and our guys would be contenders.
A winning streak has been followed by a losing streak.
That has been the pattern of the Royals for the past couple of seasons.
Inconsistency.
In Spring Training, manager Ned Yost stated that he was looking for more consistency from his ball club this year.
Well, they must have hidden it well in the vast outreaches of the outfield at Kaufman Stadium because Yost hasn’t found it yet!
I’ve always thought that a hitting coach for a major league team was a job given to a former player kind of as a gift or payment for their loyal service as a player. A place for former players to hang around when their playing skills have left them but they aren’t ready to give up the major league life.  
If this new-look Royals offense continues to produce I’ll have to put Dale Sveum in a whole new category.

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This kind of flew under the radar, but it is a class act that needs mentioning.
Right after the NFL draft, the Seattle Seahawks gave medical exams to their draft choices.
When they discovered that sixth-round pick Garrett Scott had a rare heart defect they had to wave him.
Here’s the good part: The Seahawks found out about Garrett’s condition BEFORE signing him but then went ahead and signed him anyway, giving him a salary totaling about $555,000. General manager John Schneider said, “We think highly of Garrett as a person and as a football player.”
Chances are Garrett would not have made the Seahawks roster even if his heart would have been fine but this gesture by the management of the Seahawks shows that it isn’t always cutthroat stuff and all about the money in professional sports.
Thank you Seahawks for restoring our faith in the high-stakes world of professional football.
The Seahawks are Super Bowl Champions but, even better, they are Champions in the world of doing the right thing.
 
Charles Tabler is a contributing writer from Larned.