Former Royals Manager Hillman Steps Down After 2 Years In Korea

Trey Hillman, the first person to manage teams in Major League Baseball, the Nippon Professional Baseball and Korean Baseball Organization, is reportedly stepping down as manager of Korea’s SK Wyverns for family reasons.

Hillman just finished the second year of a two-year contract with SK Wyverns, and took the team to the post-season in 2017 and 2018. He, however, said he needed to return to his native Texas to spend more time with his family, and help in the care of his 84-year-old father, and his stepmother, who was diagnosed with Alzheimers, according to the Korean news service Yonhap.

Hillman is the second American-born manager in Korea, following Jerry Royster, who managed the Lotte Giants from 2008-2010. Royster was a member of the Rockies original coaching staff in 1993.

Hillman managed the Nippon-Ham Fighters in Japan from 2003-07, helping the team to its first Pacific League title in 2006, and repeating the championship in 2007. The Ham Fighters also won the Japanese Series, and Asian Series in 2006.

That success was a factor in Hillman being hired to manage the Royals in 2008. After the Royals finished 75-87 in 2009, their best record in six years, the team slipped to 65-97 in 2009, and Hillman was fired after a 12-23 start to the 2010 season.

He served as the bench coach for Don Mattingly with the Dodgers (2011-13), a Yankees special assistant (2014) and bench coach for A.J. Hinch with the Astros (2015-16) before accepting the Korean managerial position.

A native of Amarillo, Tex., Hillman played baseball at the University of Texas-Arlington, after which he spent three years (1985-87) in the Indians system, hitting .179 and playing various infield positions in 162 games over that stretch.

He became a scout for the Indians in 1988, and in 1990 began a 12-year managerial stint in the Yankees farm system, the final three years at Triple-A Columbus.