ORLANDO, Fla. – The mad science that the Rockies hope will revamp their pitching began quickly.
Former Marlins assistant pitching coach Alon Leichman committed to becoming the Rockies’ pitching coach, and in short order Gabe Ribas left a director of pitching post with the Tigers to become assistant pitching coach, and Matt Daniels moved from pitching development and acquisitions specialist with the Twins to become Colorado’s director of pitching. When Matt Buschmann left his post as special advisor of player development with the Cubs to become the Rockies’ bullpen coach, the messages began.
Leichman, in fact, had gotten married last Friday, received his offer from manager Warren Schaeffer on Saturday and was on a plane to Israel to visit his family when the chain of new ideas began.
“I was on the flight home to Israel when Buschmann was officially on board, so we quickly created a little group chat,” Leichman said. “We’re going to enjoy these few days, answer phone calls, call players, say our ‘thank yous’ and get to work.”
The revamp of the pitching, and Wednesday’s hiring of Tommy Tanous as assistant general manager for scouting and player development, made for an active Winter Meetings for the new leadership – executive vice president Walker Monfort, president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta, general manager Josh Byrnes and Schaeffer. And that’s before any players were brought in for the Major League roster.
Here is a breakdown of how the Rockies’ Winter Meetings went and what remains as they try to rebuild from seven straight losing seasons.
BIGGEST REMAINING NEEDS
Starting pitchers: No matter how excited folks are for the changes, attracting free agents to Colorado is a daunting and expensive challenge. With organizational depth in the outfield in the Majors and Minors, trades could be the best way to add experience to a rotation that has two pitchers who weren’t rookies last year – lefty Kyle Freeland and righty Ryan Feltner.
Experience for the daily lineup: The active roster for the final game of last season had an average age of 26. The Rockies had a club-record 13 players debut, one more than in 2024. While seasoned pitching is a priority, any kind of seasoning anywhere would help.
“It’s about trying to find some veterans that fit what we want to look like offensively, but also have defensive versatility,” DePodesta said. “We want to build a roster where our young players that are coming through [Double-A] Hartford and [Triple-A] Albuquerque have to earn their at-bats in Colorado, that they aren’t going to be given at-bats right away just because we don’t have anybody else.
“There needs to be enough of a foundation from those guys that help set the standard for the young guys, say, ‘Hey, not only you’re in the big leagues – that’s great – but there’s a standard of what it means to be a professional. This is what it actually means to put in the work to be a division champion, not just survive in the big leagues.’”
First, second and third base are positions that were manned by rookies at the end of last season. But trades and other moves can accommodate whatever decisions are made in the coming days and months.
Even more infrastructure: The Rockies expect to announce the remainder of the Major League coaching staff members within days, and they also are working on the Minor League side. Former Rockies reliever Scott Oberg is expected to return as a pitching coordinator, but other spots in pitching leadership must be filled.
In a welcome development for longtime club officials who remain from previous regimes, the Rockies are expanding in many areas. The Major League pitching coaches offer an example: There is one more position than in the past, when there was either an assistant pitching coach or a bullpen coach. Signs are that a much-needed expansion of information technologies and the people to run them are coming, and the structure of Minor League field staffs could be strengthened,
HE SAID IT
Power is one way to pressure the opponent at Coors Field. But making contact, using the expansive outfield gaps and pushing the speed game by stretching hits, taking multiple bases on teammates’ hits and stealing bases are strategies Schaeffer wants to employ.
“We want to put the ball in play a ton and use our outfield, run the bases, put pressure, constant pressure on the opposing pitcher who never wants to be in Coors Field to begin with,” Schaeffer said. “We can't let our foot off the gas.”
RULE 5 DRAFT
The Rockies took strapping right-hander RJ Petit – listed at 6-8 and running anywhere from 280 to 300 pounds – from the Tigers with the first overall Rule 5 pick. Petit works down in the zone with a low 90s sinking fastball, can run his four-seam fastball up to 98 mph and has a gyro-movement slider that could be his best pitch.
Petit, who enters the MLB Pipeline rankings as the Rockies’ No. 26 prospect, benefitted from work with Ribas as he climbed from a 14th-round pick from Charleston Southern in 2021 to the edge of the Majors in a pitching-rich Tigers organization. Rockies pro scouting director Sterling Monfort especially likes the strike-throwing.
And there’s the presence.
"Gigantic force on the mound … he's a very, very safe bet [to stick with the team throughout the season] based off of the reports and the discussions that we've had about him,” Monfort said. “He's a monster, and there's still a little bit of an arrow pointing upward."
In the Triple-A phase, the Rockies selected right-hander TJ Shook from the Mets.
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• Rockies want to add experienced starters to pair with up-and-comers
DePODESTA’S BOTTOM LINE
Because the Rockies have been late in fully adapting modern information tools, there is a natural emphasis on the fact that many of the new hires are well-versed in analytics. But DePodesta noted that the leaders at their hearts are talent evaluators.
“You’ll notice a lot of these people have a wide range of experience in different areas,” DePodesta said. “But they have this foundation in evaluation, and whether that’s with amateur players or pro players or advance scouting work, that foundation is really important.”