Last season the Royals had the worst pitching record in the American League. They had the fewest wins, 58, and the fewest saves, 25. They gave up the most runs, 905, and most hits, 1,638. The ERA was a league-worst 5.15.

Stop the bleeding. Call Dr. Hansen.

Hansen is back for his second turn as the Royals' pitching coach.

Since Hansen was fired in 1993 after three seasons -- he and manager Hal McRae didn't see eye-to-eye -- the Royals have had six other pitching coaches. Name them and consider yourself a real Royals expert.

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Hansen has spent about 30 years with the Royals as a minor league player, scout, minor league coach and Major League coach (he returned in 1997-98 but as bullpen coach). For the last six years, he worked in the Atlanta Braves' organization for former Royals general manager John Schuerholz.

For the last four years, he was pitching coach for Triple-A Richmond with Leo Mazzone entrenched in the parent Braves' job.

"I had no intention of going anywhere because I had a great job with Atlanta. I mean, Schuerholz has hired me five different times and he was paying me top dollar as a Triple-A pitching coach," Hansen said.

"Even though Leo was very much his own man, I still had some impact and was allowed to do whatever I thought was right. And they'd send down some Major League pitchers once in a while to get cleaned up, so that job was great."

But GM Allard Baird persuaded him to return to the Royals.

"When you look at successful pitching coaches they have communication skills with a player and they also have some ability from a technician's standpoint," Baird said.

"I think the whole key with Guy is that he's very talented at both. You get some guys who are better technicians than communicators and vice versa. Those two things and being above average in both was a big factor."

Hansen is very much a hands-on coach, who moves through the practice fields with words of advice and encouragement for every pitcher he encounters.

"He's awesome," said reliever Shawn Camp. "If there's a negative about you, it doesn't stay long. If you have something correctable, he's going to find a way to correct it."

Hansen already has overhauled the pitching motion of left-hander Brian Anderson. He's teaching relievers Jeremy Affeldt and Mike MacDougal the values of a changeup. He's helping Scott Sullivan find an arm slot that won't wear on his aching back.

And he's sized up the horde of 33 pitchers under his care.

"I thought three years ago in Atlanta was the best group of arms I'd ever seen, but this is the best group I've personally ever witnessed," Hansen said.

As a scout, Hansen exhibited a good eye for pitchers, signing Bret Saberhagen and Kevin Appier. When he operated a baseball school in southern California, he made Saberhagen an offseason project. Saberhagen went from 14-16 in 1988 to 23-6 and a Cy Young Award in 1989.

"In my opinion, the best pitcher I ever had to work with was Saberhagen. Basically what happened in '89 after that terrible year just gave me a lot of confidence that the things I believe in are special," Hansen said.

"And I had the opportunity just to be around Greg Maddux and watch what he does. Saberhagen and Maddux are probably the two best control pitchers of the '90s. I don't think anybody would argue that much. Maddux throws in upper 80s (mph), and Saberhagen in the mid-90s. The control they had with their fastball and changeup was terrific, and both are very, very similar in their basics, their absolutes."

Hansen extends that knowledge to his handling of the Royals' pitchers.

"What I do is gather as much information as possible and take the best qualities they have and bring in those absolutes and that usually gets them in the strike zone with some power," he said.

In 1992, under Hansen, the Royals had their lowest ERA, 3.81, in the last 15 seasons. In 1993, Appier led the AL with a 2.56 ERA and Jeff Montgomery posted a club-record 45 saves.

"Everyone who works with Guy gets that feeling that, hey, he really believes in me," Baird said.

Now for that list of pitching coaches that followed Hansen to Kansas City: Bruce Kison, Mark Wiley, Brent Strom, Al Nipper, John Cumberland and Mike Mason. The Royals' interim coach for the second half of last season, Mason was retained as the minor league roving pitching instructor.

Initially Hansen, very comfortable with the Braves, was hesitant to return to the Royals.

"I didn't want to push anybody out of a job, especially Mike Mason. That bothered me a lot," Hansen said. "Once I met with them and assured me that Mike was going to be well taken care of and would have impact, then I listened."