Matt Quataro’s stance on benching players brings to mind a famous Ned Yost quote
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- The Royals have lost nine of their last ten games and hold a 20-30 record.
- Only Bobby Witt Jr. bats above .270 among the nine Royals who have played most games.
- Manager Matt Quatraro says he avoids reactive lineup changes and evaluates many factors.
The Royals enter the weekend having lost nine of their last 10 games. And with a 20-30 record, just one American League team has fewer victories: the Angels (17).
Of the nine hitters who have played the most games for the Royals, only one has an average above .270. That’s shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. at .299. Four of those Royals batters have an average of .215 or worse: left fielder Isaac Collins, center fielder Lane Thomas, catcher Salvador Perez and first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino.
Fans have been clamoring for a change to the lineup, so I asked Royals manager Matt Quatraro about his philosophy about making a move. And I mentioned Ned Yost’s philosophy while the Royals’ skipper.
Yost publicly stated he heeded the advice of his mentor Bobby Cox: When wanting to make a change, wait a week before doing it.
“I‘ve heard that before about Ned, and from other managers as well,” Quatraro said. “I think that just speaks to trying to not be reactive and I believe you have a certain level of trust in your players. I mean, we don’t have 25 other major-league quality players just floating around that you pick and put in a lineup.”
Quatraro then mentioned Pasquantino and Perez without saying their names.
“I mean, you’re talking about guys that drove in 100 runs last year that have the track record of being good hitters,” Quatraro said. “And we believe in those guys, so I don’t have a strict like ‘after this many days we will do this,’ but we consider a lot of things all the time.”
Quatraro’s comment about not having 25 major-league quality players floating around may sound awfully familiar to Royals fans. It brings to mind a famous (or infamous) quote from Yost when third baseman Mike Moustakas was struggling.
“You know what?” Yost said in 2013. “Maybe when we get home, I can go to the third-base tree and pick another third baseman. … Obviously, third basemen who can hit and hit with power, they must grow on trees. They’ve got to. Like relief pitchers. And starting pitchers. Right fielders. Left fielders. First basemen.
“All of these guys must grow on trees, and you must be able to just go get another good one. A ripe one. Make sure it’s ripe. Those trees are at a hidden location but, obviously, they’re somewhere. Because that’s what everyone wants to do. Let’s just go pluck another one out of the tree. That’s the nonsense that really ticks me off.”
That Yost rant went viral at the time, and “the third-base tree” quote remains the stuff of legends.
Quatraro also was asked by another reporter if he knows the right time to make a change.
“I don’t know if anybody does,” he said. “I don’t know that I have the day that things would change, because any decision has its effect on that decision, but it also affects multiple other things that sometimes you don’t see that may be positive, and they may not be.
“So clearly I don’t have one answer for you on the date or the amount of time, but there are certain things that we do consider on a regular basis.”
This story was originally published May 22, 2026 at 11:16 AM with the headline "Matt Quataro’s stance on benching players brings to mind a famous Ned Yost quote."
