Ned Yost media session: August 4

Before tonight’s game, manager Ned Yost met with the media followed by new first base coach, Rusty Kuntz. Yost spoke first about the new coaching change. “We’ve made a change at first base, we brought Rusty Kuntz in. Rusty had been the guy that made Alex Gordon a left-fielder and has worked with Lorenzo Cain and Jarrod Dyson most of their careers. We decided that we needed to make a change. Doug (Sisson) was a guy that worked his tail off, but as an organization we thought it was time to make a change and Rusty was available. He has been working as a minor league outfield coordinator and base running coordinator. He has been with all of our young kids and we are lucky to have Rusty, he is one of the best in the business,” said Yost.

The energetic Kuntz followed Yost discussing the new change for him. “I got a call this morning saying can you come here to help out. So I assumed I was going to be throwing batting practice and then when I walked into the locker room I had a helmet in my hand. I am happy to be back. I mean, I love all these guys. I have known them all, had some of them here and most of them in the minor leagues,” said Rusty. He followed with discussing about his past experience here and how he was able to choose family first in the past and be a coach for the system. “I have been blessed and have had over 20 years in the big leagues in the box. The one thing it lacks is you got to remember this is eight months, but it is an eight-month grind, a marathon even for coaches. What I was missing by getting the opportunity for so long was my family time. Last year seeing my son as a junior play shortstop at KU, I could not believe how much he has grown and how good he was. I haven’t seen him play a game since he was 12 years old.”