George Brett named Royals interim hitting coach

• Let’s just hope he doesn’t teach the players his pine tar habits.

Mired in an eight-game losing streak and in their sad annual slide toward irrelevance, the Royals made a surprising change Thursday. Effective immediately, hall of famer George Brett will take over as the team’s interim hitting coach. The team said in a release on its website today that coaches Jack Maloof and Andre David will be sent to minor league organization like they were a couple of under-performing players. Brett be with the team tonight when the last-place Royals play the Cardinals at 7:15 p.m.

“Obviously things have not gone as we would have expected and in light of the downturn in offensive production and poor results we’ve decided to make a change,” Royals general manager Dayton Moore said in the news release. He added: “I’m thankful that this organization has one of the greatest hitters and more importantly one of the greatest competitors our game has ever seen in George Brett and he has accepted our offer to join the coaching staff on an interim basis.”

Read the whole release after the jump.