Why veteran hurler chose to stay with Royals

This story was excerpted from Anne Rogers’ Royals Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

KANSAS CITY -- Michael Wacha knew very early on in his time with the Royals that Kansas City was a place he wanted to stay.

In fact, it was when the right-hander signed there last winter that he told general manager J.J. Picollo that he didn’t “want to play anywhere else.”

At the time, Wacha knew what it was like visiting Kansas City as an opposing player, and he had always admired the city, Kauffman Stadium, the fan base and the organization. That feeling was validated further when the Royals reached out to him last offseason and recruited him to help turn around the team as a veteran player, eventually signing a two-year, $32 million deal with an opt-out clause after the 2024 season.

• Wacha inks new three-year deal with KC

Then, over the course of 162 games this past season and the Royals’ first postseason appearance in nine years, Wacha and his family -- wife Sarah and 2-year-old daughter Marcia -- realized they really didn’t want to go anywhere else.

At the end of the Royals’ season, Wacha told Picollo the same thing he said less than one year ago:

“I said, ‘I don’t want to play anywhere else,’” Wacha said. “My family loves this city, the neighborhoods that we’re in, the people around here, the fan base -- it’s something we want to be a part of.”

Now, the Wachas will be a part of all of it for at least the next three years. Instead of triggering his opt-out clause and heading into free agency for the fifth consecutive offseason, Wacha and the Royals restructured a three-year, $51 million extension with a $14 million club option for 2028.

“Knowing that you’ve got a group or an organization that believes in you, that wants you here for an extended period of time, it really means a lot to myself and my family,” Wacha said. “It’s a good feeling for sure. And I want to go out there and keep doing what I’m doing, continue that mindset of, 'We’re always getting better.' I want to give everything I can to this city and this organization to bring in what they deserve.”

On Monday, Wacha detailed why Kansas City felt like home, from the people who work at Kauffman Stadium and who sit in the stands to the community he encountered away from the ballpark. He joked he knows the best parks in the area, too, with Marcia’s approval on the swings and slides around town.

But most of all, Wacha wants to win, and he believes he can do that with the Royals. It’s why he came here last year. Even after a 56-win season, Picollo’s vision, along with the allure of playing with Bobby Witt Jr. and Salvador Perez, sold Wacha and the other free agents on bringing a culture shift to Kansas City.

Eighty-six wins and a postseason berth only solidified Wacha’s belief that things are trending in the right direction. His desire to stay in Kansas City without even talking to other teams in free agency about a potential larger contract signals a trust in the organization that other players will undoubtedly notice.

And by extending one of the top veteran starting pitchers in the game for multiple years, the Royals are signaling that they want to keep it going.

“It is validating,” Picollo said. “Last year, we had a lot of moves to make. We were not only trying to identify talent, but we also wanted the right culture in our clubhouse. And what we learned last year was, culture is going to trump talent in a lot of instances. You can will yourself to win with a great culture. Michael, certainly, is a big part of that.

“... But it is validating, because whether it’s decisions we made on who to target [or] processes that were in place with our pitching department, it’s good to see those things come through. It’s a team effort. Ultimately, these are the guys out there on the field that have to perform. But if we can surround them with a good staff, with good teammates, great things can happen. And we feel like that’s the trajectory we’re on right now.”