Cambridge’s Scott Thorman takes on new role with Kansas City Royals

Scott Thorman continues to climb the ladder with the Kansas City Royals.

The Cambridge native has been promoted to minor league field coordinator for the Major League Baseball club after managing the team’s Triple-A affiliate, the Omaha Storm Chasers, last season.

The new show will see the 41-year-old as a traveling coach who will help organize spring training, major camps, fall instructional leagues and travel to all of the team’s minor league affiliates during the summer to provide guidance and support to players and staff. .

“I think it will be an adjustment, but at the same time I’m looking forward to the challenge,” he said. “It’s a little less dugout time. I think I’ll miss it. But it’s an opportunity to see more of the organization and be another helping hand.”

Thorman retired in 2012 after a 13-year playing career, most notably with the Atlanta Braves, who selected him 30th overall in the 2000 MLB draft.

Over the past decade, he’s made an even bigger name as a manager in the Kansas City system, where he’s worked at every level while winning several minor league titles along the way.

Thorman was so successful that he was interviewed late last year for the vacant managerial position with the Royals.

“It was an extremely exciting experience,” Thorman said of the opportunity, although former Tampa Bay Rays bench coach Matt Quatraro ended up getting the job.

“I learned a lot about the process and about myself,” Thorman said. “I feel like it can only benefit me moving forward.”

The diamond works are already underway.

Some players and prospects are entering the team’s minor league facility, but pitchers and catchers won’t be officially announced until next month.

Many of them have been coached by Thorman at some point in their careers, but the humble Preston High School alum can’t say how many.

“I don’t have an exact number,” he said. “We have a saying around here that all of our successes are linked. Every player who makes it to the big leagues is an organizational victory and not just one particular individual. It takes a village.”

The Royals have produced some of the most exciting young players in the game in recent years, including shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., catcher/outfielder MJ Melendez and first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino, among others.

“Being a small market we have to produce our own big leaguers,” Thorman said. “We’re excited about what’s next and what’s here now.”

And while he’s focused on his new role with the Royals, Thorman isn’t closing the door on a managerial job down the road.

Few Canadians have ever reached this level in the big leagues.

Last fall, fellow Canuck Rob Thomson shed the interim tag and was officially named manager of the Philadelphia Phillies, making him the first Canadian to hold that title since 1934.

“What he’s doing is incredible just for baseball,” Thorman said. “It’s an amazing thing to watch him develop in front of us when he gets the opportunity and succeeds. There’s a lot of pride for Canadians in baseball.”

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