Ned Yost, Former Manager, Kansas City Royals

Date of Birth: 8/19/1954
Birthplace: Eureka, California
College: Chabot College

Like many other major league managers, Ned Yost, former manager of the Kansas City Royals, began his major league career as a catcher. He had a short, not particularly good player career, playing from 1980 through 1983 with the Milwaukee Brewers and then a year with the Texas Rangers, finishing his career after the 1985 season with the Montreal Expos. In those six years, Yost had a batting average of just .212.

Although Yost had a brief stint as a minor league manager, he spent most of 1986 through 1991 outside of baseball. In 1991, he became bullpen coach for the Atlanta Braves and he stayed in that position until he became the Braves third base coach in 1999.

After four years as a third base coach, Yost left the Braves to manage the Milwaukee Brewers. In six years as manager, Yost led the Brewers to only two winning seasons (2007, 2008), two seasons in second place in the NL Central division, and two years in sixth place. The Brewers best record under Yost was in 2008, the year he was fired by the team. In 150 games prior to his firing, the Brewers had a 83-67 record, with a .553 win percentage.

In 2010, Yost was hired as manager of the Kansas City Royals, a team that was struggling badly when Yost took over. The team ended that season with a 55-72 record and only a .433 win percentage. Although the team did not fare much better in 2011 and 2012 under Yost's leadership, in 2013 they finished with their best record in 24 years. That season, Yost led the Royals to a third place finish in the American League Central division with an 86-76 win-loss record.

After the 2013 season ended, Yost was given a two-year contract extension that will keep him as the Royals' manager through 2015.

In 2014, Yost led the Royals to their first playoff since 1985. They finished the regular season with an 89-73 record, second place in the AL Central division, and one of the AL Wild Card slots. They then went on to beat the Oakland Athletics in the Wild Card game, the Los Angeles Angels in the AL Division series (3-0 win), and the Baltimore Orioles in the AL Championship series (4-0 win). They lost the World Series to the San Francisco Giants in the seventh game.

Yost led the Royals to a World Series win in 2015. They had the best regular season record in the American League with 95 wins to 67 losses. They faced the Houston Astros in the AL Division Series and they defeated them three games to two. They then went on to defeat the Toronto Blue Jays four games to two in the AL Championship Series. They won the World Series in a 4-1 match-up with the New York Mets.

The Royals had a down season in 2016, finishing third in the AL Central division with an 81-81 record. They had a similar record in 2017, again finishing in third place in the division with 80 wins and 82 losses.

Yost and the Royals had a dismal season in 2018, finishing with 58 wins to 104 losses. They had a similar season in 2019, with 59 wins and 103 losses. Yost retired at the end of the 2019 season.

Yost's ten year record as manager of the Royals is 746 wins to 839 losses and his overall sixteen year managerial career record is 1,203 wins to 1,341 losses.

Sources for Information
Wikipedia - Ned Yost
Baseball Reference - Ned Yost