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 AFTER AN ANONYMOUS CAREER AS A COACH STATESIDE, TREY HILLMAN MADE QUITE A NAME FOR HIMSELF IN JAPAN. NOW HE'S BACK TO MANAGE THE KC ROYALS
by allen palmeri
The new manager of the Kansas City Royals is Trey Hillman.
That's Trey Hillman.
T-r-e-y H-i-l-l-m-a-n.
"I'm a no-name," he says. "I've never managed in the major leagues in the United States. Very few people know who I am, which is fine with me, and I believe it's all part of the perseverance of going through more, and enduring more. I want to have as much success as I can, but not for individual gain--for the good of the whole group, and for the platform that God has blessed me with."
Hillman, 45, was a career minor league manager in the New York Yankees system, laboring 13 years before spending 1 year as director of player development for the Texas Rangers and 5 years managing in Japan. When he pulled on his No. 22 jersey for the Royals on March 31 against the Detroit Tigers, it was his first major league game.
"I had to manage 'A' ball for 8 years before I got promoted to Double A," he says, "and I believe that everything I went through is coming full circle. I believe I'll go through more. I believe that's part of God's plan for me."
Hillman began to walk with Jesus out of a Christian home in his native Texas. He was 13 when his sins were cleansed.
"I knew there was a plan and a purpose, and for that plan and that purpose I needed Christ," he says. "I made God a promise a long time ago, and that promise was this: 'Give me an opportunity with a platform in professional baseball, and I will never be hesitant; I will not be shy about professing my faith.' That's my job as a Christian."
One of Hillman's favorite slogans is "Adapt, Adjust, Overcome." It seems ideally worded to describe the three major parts of his professional life with the Cleveland Indians, New York Yankees, and Nippon Ham Fighters of the Japan Pacific League. It also may frame the depth and scope of the work he now faces with the Royals, a franchise that has finished last in the American League Central Division for each of the past four seasons.
With the Indians, he was a minor league second baseman who retired at the age of 25 and became a scout.
"I felt like God gave me an ability at a young age to get control of my own ego," he says. "I evaluated it and saw that my talent level was probably not indicative of a long-term career at the major league level, and I was blessed that God provided another avenue. That was a matter of adapting. I had to adapt to reaching my dream through a different route.". . .
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