Even amid recent Royals skid, Mike Matheny has shown he’s the right fit for the job

As Royals manager Mike Matheny contemplated a 6-1 victory over the Angels at Kauffman Stadium a couple weeks ago, he was struck by how hard-earned and precarious it had been despite the final cushion.

Then he turned to the brief but dynamic postgame celebration in the clubhouse, one fashioned with flashing red, blue and green lights and what he called “crazy music” and water poured over the wellspring of such antics — Salvador Perez, the proprietor of the Salvy Splash who had been deemed MVP of this particular game.

“I love that stuff,” Matheny said.

Pausing as if struck by a momentous realization, he added, “I’ve been guilty in the past of never embracing each win enough. And suffering the losses too much.”

The words were only a superficial snapshot of what has made Matheny and the Royals such a harmonious and synergistic match, one that through early last week had them perched atop the standings of all of Major League Baseball.

Still, the words also provide a window into more substantial testimony about why Matheny is the right man at the right time for the Royals (yes, even given the recent funk that reminds it’s so early in his first full season that our concept could stand more vetting ... or that we wish we’d written this last week.)

But the season is meant to be a marathon, with all the tests a long haul implies, and you can’t expect all “peaches and roses,” as Whit Merrifield put it the other day.

And this belief is predicated less on the current record (16-15 through Friday after a sixth straight loss) than on the dynamics Matheny has established in his early tenure.

Since taking over a franchise coming off back-to-back 100-loss seasons and steering it through a pandemic, Matheny has demonstrated a resounding pattern of compelling habits and sheer connectivity. His “really needed” energy, as Whit Merrifield put it last spring, still is reverberating through the team and front office.

Somewhat like the notion that he was too curmudgeonly to revel in victories, much of the considerable observable data so far stands in stark contrast to how he was perceived by the time he was fired in St. Louis.

Name the criticism or concern or stigma, and Matheny to date either has refuted it entirely or offered a powerful rebuttal while asserting himself as an ideal leader.

(Naturally, you can quibble with bullpen moves that backfired in the last few days and led to some fan unrest … and even a stray #matheneyed quip on Twitter. But, please, ask yourself what fan base thinks their manager does handle the bullpen perfectly.)

Matheny has exuded urgency while demonstrating patience, and he radiates confidence without cockiness or condescension.

Constructive criticism has been a calling card, and he’s been nothing less than a phenomenal communicator. That includes during his expansive and accountable sessions with the media, which more importantly by extension means his engagements with you, gentle reader.

“I think Mike is a great connector of people,” Royals general manager Dayton Moore said earlier this week, later adding, “So I feel really good about who he is and where we are and what he brings each and every day.”

Honestly, it’s hard to feel otherwise about a man so outspokenly committed to self-improvement and summoning the best out of others and walking the walk.

When we spoke the other day, I asked Matheny about the difference between him before and after managing the Cardinals. Or, as I reminded him of from previous interviews, the difference between when he took that job in 2012 and felt like he was “drinking out of a firehose” and how he felt when he arrived here saying, “I don’t think you can ever trust a leader without a limp.”

He laughed and said sometimes he still thinks he’s drinking from a firehose. But then he referred to the journal he keeps, within which he typically asks himself “what did I learn today?” and “who did I impact today?”

“It just kind of keeps me centered and grounded on two things I believe define success in this position: Having that awareness of having a growth mindset and every single day trying to pull something from somebody,” he said.

Noting the organizational support and superb staff surrounding him, he added, “So if I haven’t learned a great deal, then that’s just me not paying attention. But I have so much more to learn, and I keep being reminded of that every single day.”

That reflective routine, he said, also helps him “get back to ‘the why,’ ” something he embraced emphatically in between managerial jobs when he took leadership courses, immersed himself into analytics, worked with a media consultant and served as a special adviser to Moore.

Every day, he said, his “why” is to think this way first: Who am I here to have an impact on? Who am I here to serve?

“I don’t get it right all the time,” he said. “... But when I get that right, I see how things fall in line.”

Certainly, it’s easy to see how things have fallen in line between Matheny and the Royals. And not just in the sense of his deeper adherence to analytics after literally going back to school to refine his knowledge, or in his patience with the media … a dynamic that for one reason or another had gone awry at times in St. Louis.

Most notably, though, a man previously labeled as laboring to nurture younger players has been nothing but accessible and encouraging across a roster brimming with men testifying to that.

That was something he began to establish before he managed a game with the Royals by visiting a number of players that first offseason. And it’s something he has sustained by roaming the field and occasionally pitching batting practice and seizing the Zoom era as an opportunity to get to know people better.

You can see it in his touch with Nicky Lopez, who was initially optioned and almost instantly brought back up to be the regular shortstop in the wake of Adalberto Mondesi’s injury.

It shows up in matters such as several conversations recently with rookie Jake Brentz on using him in higher-leverage situations and for a third straight day. And it’s evident from multiple talks he had with Hunter Dozier about working through a thumb injury.

“He’s been amazing ever since he’s been here,” Dozier said. “He’s really good at communicating with players. You see him in batting practice: He’s walking the outfield talking to everyone. In the locker room, he’s talking to everyone.

“And I remember when he pulled me out of the game in Chicago. He was, like, ‘Let me do this to protect you.’ He truly cares. He’s just a manager who really cares but continues to push us.”

It’s often overlooked that Matheny enjoyed plenty of success in St. Louis. In the considerable wake of the Cardinals’ 2011 World Series triumph under Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa (now with the White Sox), Matheny guided them to three straight National League Central titles and a World Series. He went 591-474 in his six-plus seasons before being dismissed in 2018 amid issues largely revolving around communications and relationships.

Soon after Matheny became the Royals manager, former Royals and Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog told me he believed Matheny partly was undone by “malcontents” in the clubhouse. Others pointed to specific episodes with a handful of players.

Whatever the cause of it all, Matheny might have shrugged that off and simply blamed others.

Instead, he audited himself. And he got better instead of bitter to ultimately make himself what seems a splendid fit here.

Part of that seems based on the obvious benefits of experience. Some of it seems to be an instinct for this culture and chemistry with Moore, with whom Matheny speaks frequently and feels in complete alignment … something reflected in who gets on this team and in the lineup here in ways that weren’t always the case in St. Louis.

But it’s also about a different time and place in terms of the needs and expectations of teams that were in virtually opposite positions when he took over. This time around, the task wasn’t staying at the top but development … if not rebuilding.

Which was entirely appropriate for a man who believes he should always be evolving and has transformed much of the stuff that at least was asserted as flaws into assets.

Accordingly, he knows this team is as much a work in progress as he is and he’s “not oblivious to the challenges” they’ll face together.

So he’ll keep grinding it out even as he remembers not to grind himself, or his team, down.

And he’ll finally appreciate the wins, which he seldom allowed himself to do as a player out of fear of letting his guard and edge down. That was why by the end of some seasons, he said, he almost needed to be “bedridden” because of the emotional and physical toll and weight loss.

Figuring he wasn’t good enough to sit back and let things play out, he initially took much of that mentality into managing and perhaps for a time inflicted expectations of that somber demeanor on others.

Now, though, he realizes that way of seeing the game is both “unhealthy” and detrimental to development and doesn’t want his players to fall into that habit.

“I don’t think it frees them up to get as good as they can,” he said. “And I don’t think they get to have the privilege of enjoying the great honor it is to slip on this major-league uniform.”

Don’t get him wrong: Matheny doesn’t hate losing any less than ever. And he remains immensely intense.

But the wins, well, he’s discovered each is special as he keeps trying to grow with his players.

“They’re making me better,” he said, “by watching them put down their guard to enjoy the moment.”

Making for a glimpse at the surface of something deeper at play.