KANSAS CITY -- The Royals have added sports psychologist Andrew Jacobs to the medical staff, manager Trey Hillman announced on Thursday.

Jacobs, who grew up in Kansas City, previously worked for the Royals in 1990 as well as the University of Kansas, the Kansas City Comets soccer team and other sports teams, including U.S. Olympics cycling. He also has a call-in radio show in Kansas City.

"When Trey was hired, we talked about the importance of having a sports psychologist," Royals general manager Dayton Moore said. "Some players like to utilize that aspect of the medical team, and it's good to have somebody on board where players can work through different circumstances, whether they are professional or personal.

"As everybody knows who follows professional athletics, especially baseball, whoever manages failure the best is going to be successful, and you need somebody on staff to keep things in perspective and help players manage failure."

Hillman introduced Jacobs to the Royals players at a workout Thursday afternoon prior to the team leaving for a series at Chicago.