Wilmington, DE- After making the World Series for the first time in almost three decades, the Kansas City Royals rewarded the man responsible for grooming much of the homegrown talent that helped propel that magical postseason run. Scott Sharp was promoted from Director of Minor League Operations to the organization's Director of Player Personnel. Filling Sharp's old position is a new face in Kansas City. Ronnie Richardson spent 11 seasons with the Braves, fulfilling an array of different responsibilities that ranged from scouting to the business side of the organization. He was in Wilmington on Tuesday to help introduce new Blue Rocks manager Brian Buchanan to the local media.

During his visit Richardson sat down with the voice of the Blue Rocks, Matt Janus. Here is the transcript from their chat.

Matt Janus: We are joined now by Ronnie Richardson, Director of Minor League Operations for the Kansas City Royals. A new face for the Royals organization, and what a great time to be joining Kansas City coming off the American League Championship. Was that a big part of the reason why you wanted to come to the Royals, because of all the excitement surrounding the club at the moment?

Ronnie Richardson: Well first, thanks for having me here. Glad to be here in Wilmington. This is a great environment, great city for our players to develop. For me, [the Royals] are a great organization. It starts at the top with their leadership with the Glass family and our baseball operations department and our general manager Dayton Moore and our assistant general manager and vice president J.J. Piccolo, a man of high character that I've seen from afar and worked with briefly at different times over my career. I just think the opportunity to transition and to start with a new organization, it couldn't be a better time with the Kansas City Royals and what they do. Not just with the victories, but the day to day grind that we have as employees. They make it rewarding to work for people that believe in your ability, and you have a chance to go out and do your job to the best of your ability to help the organization continue to success.

Matt Janus: We were talking off microphone before we came over here for the interview, you worked for the Braves organization, and they've been in the Carolina League for years. You made it all throughout the different ballparks in the league, but this is your first time in Wilmington. What are your impressions of Frawley Stadium?

Ronnie Richardson: I like it, I like it a lot. Just talking to Chris Kemple, our general manager here, walking me around and seeing the batting cages there and the clubhouse and seeing the field and asking questions, some things that we're doing here to help renovate the ballpark, the wall behind home plate. We're talking about some other things that I'm not going to let go because that's not my area, but overall, it's definitely a great environment that's created here, and it starts with the front office, the things they do day to day to make this place go. And then the fans that come out each and every day to support our players and the community as a whole. It really creates a great environment, which is our goal with our players, to come here, compete, and continue to develop on their path to the Major Leagues.

Matt Janus: If you see Frawley Stadium for the first time and you say you like it, you must be a guy that favors the pitching side, because that's always the first impression we normally get; about how big it is, how cavernous it looks when you stand down there field level. As somebody who now will run the minor league operations, what are some of your priorities when you look at it from a baseball perspective? It's not necessarily a building situation, it's about continuing to refurbish. What are your thoughts on the game overall?

Ronnie Richardson: I think when you look at our ballpark here, we did have some pitchers that had great seasons here, and those players we believe are talented. As you mentioned, there are ballparks in the Major Leagues that favor hitters, and there are some that favor pitchers. This is a ballpark that our players will continue to come in, compete, and understand. You look at our ballpark in Kansas City, it's not a ballpark necessarily for offensive production, but we ended up in the World Series. Last time I checked, you have to pitch and you have to hit, so if we're able to do both parts of that very well each and every day, play good defense, good pitching, and offensively score timely runs, I think we'll have a chance to be successful regardless of the ballpark, regardless of where they're playing each and every day. I think Frawley is a beautiful stadium here. I think we have a lot of great resources. I mentioned the batting cages, the weight room, things that the fans don't see day to day that really allow our players to continue to get better. I think as we continue to grow here, our manager, our pitching coach, our hitting coach will do the best they can to get the most out of those players every day.

Matt Janus: Steve Luebber has been here for a long time, the pitching coach, he's the longest tenured coach in club history. A new manager into town this year though, Brian Buchanan, who we spoke with earlier. You've gotten to know him, what can we expect from a Brian Buchanan led team?

Ronnie Richardson: I think you're going to expect a competitive team each and every day. Brian was a competitive player when he played, and he believes in doing things the right way every single day. That's our goal, to be consistent. You don't always control the wins and losses. All you can do is give your maximum effort each and every day and execute the fundamentals that we feel are important. Play the game the right way, play the game hard, respect the game, and I think the fans will get a great appreciation for the way that his players are going to play and the way the staff is going to lead these men going into next season.

Matt Janus: Final thing: you're a guy with kind of a unique background with the Braves. You spent some time on the business end, you've  spent plenty of time on the baseball side. How do you bring those two together? How is  that an advantage for you?

Ronnie Richardson: It's great. The passion for baseball, working with players, working with people, and that's what makes the Kansas City Royals special. We have a lot of different people from a lot of different backgrounds, and I think our ability to work together has allowed me to continue to grow. I've been blessed to have an opportunity to work in this game, and I'm very appreciative of that. As I continue to grow in my career, I really believe that as I continue to work with the men and the women of this game that make it so special each and every day, and we definitely attempt to do our best. We don't do everything right always, but we can guarantee that we're going to do our best in everything that we do. We believe that together as a team we'll continue to be successful.   

The Blue Rocks, who drew 284,701 fans to Frawley Stadium in 2014 and averaged more than 4,400 patrons per game, have season seats and group packages for the 2015 season on sale now. The home opener is Thursday, April 16 at 6:35 p.m. and individual tickets for that or any other game this season will go on sale on Presidents Day. Fans should call 302-888-BLUE or visit BlueRocks.com for more information.

 

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