One of the greatest assets the Kansas City Royals have is their weak division.
Though two Royals rivals made the playoffs this year (Detroit Tigers, Cleveland Guardians), the Central typically doesn’t have a dominant team. Plus, the Minnesota Twins jumpstarted a large-scale rebuild this year, while the Chicago White Sox, well…
It’s going to take at least another year or two for the White Sox to ascend to threat status for the Royals. But they’ll have some help with deep knowledge of the Royals’ inner workings trying to accomplish that goal moving forward.
Sep 23, 2025; Bronx, New York, USA; Chicago White Sox pitcher Shane Smith (64) pitches against the New York Yankees during the first inning at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Jones-Imagn Images / John Jones-Imagn Images
On Monday, the White Sox announced the hiring of Royals assistant pitching coach Zach Bove as their new pitching coach. Bove, 37, held his role in Kansas City for the last three seasons and will try to bring his pedigree of improvement to the 60-102 White Sox.
Bove deserves credit for the development of homegrown pitchers like Kris Bubic, trade pickups like Cole Ragans, and veteran signings like Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha. It takes a different kind of development plan to find success in each of those categories, and over the past two years, the Royals have been among the best staffs in baseball.
Pitching coach Brian Sweeney remains at his post in Kansas City, which he’s held for the last three seasons.
Chicago’s pitching staff was far from good this past season, but it was also well above the bottom of the barrel. As a team, the White Sox ranked 19th in ERA at 4.26, and the trio of Shane Smith, Sean Burke, and Davis Martin developed into something resembling a young rotation core.
Kansas City also bid farewell a pair of assistant coaches on the hitting side of things earlier this offseason when the contracts of Keoni DeRenne and Joe Dillon were not renewed — though hitting coach Alec Zumwalt kept his role.
The Royals will certainly congratulate Bove and wish him well in his new role. But for 13 games a season, they’ll be hoping his pitchers implode.
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