Rays bench coach Matt Quatraro has been hired by the Kansas City Royals to be their next manager, a logical fit for a rebuilding club looking to mold itself after successful smaller market franchises like Cleveland and Tampa Bay, and a long overdue promotion for Q.
Quatraro came to the Rays organization from Cleveland, where he worked as a hitting coach under Terry Francona from 2010-2017. He was promoted to bench coach for the Rays from third base coach four years ago and has served five years total on Tampa Bay’s big league staff.
An eighth round draftee of the 1996 expansion Devil Rays as a catcher out of Old Dominion, Quatraro retired before the 2003 season without reaching higher than Triple-A, and began his coaching career in the Rays minor league system in 2004, where he worked until 2010.