DENVER – Longtime baseball executive Chad MacDonald has joined the Rockies as special assistant, player personnel.
MacDonald’s highlights included working with the Diamondbacks (2006-10) when new Rockies general manager Josh Byrnes was GM with that team. MacDonald was director of international scouting his final two years with Arizona. He was with president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta as Mets director of scouting in 2011, and rejoined Byrnes with the Padres as vice president/assistant general manager player personnel from 2012-14.
MacDonald, who had a stint with the Braves before rejoining the Mets in 2020-23, was involved in Drafts of future Major Leaguers Brandon Nimmo, Michael Fulmer, Seth Lugo, Max Fried, Zach Eflin, Hunter Renfroe and Trea Turner.
The move is the latest in Rockies executive vice president Walker Monfort’s building of a front office since DePodesta joined the club in November and Byrnes joined in early December.
“I'm very pleased with how well we've been able to do to date, and how we've been able to do it,” DePodesta said in a recent press conference. “We've had multiple areas of focus – the first two were our Major League coaching staff, and then the front office staff. We really wanted to get those things in place at the same time, never losing sight of wanting to improve our team, because ultimately that's what we're all here for.
“It’s a little challenging in the time of year, November and December and even into January, trying to do all those things at the same time.”
The Rockies have also hired Tommy Tanous as assistant general manager, scouting and player development; Ian Levin as assistant general manager; and Matt Daniels as director of pitching.