DENVER -- As the Rockies continue to undergo an offseason of change in the front office, they will look to a familiar face to guide the team on the field moving forward.
The club announced Monday that Warren Schaeffer – who took over as interim manager last season when Colorado parted ways with Bud Black in May – has been named the team’s manager for 2026.
As he sheds the interim tag and becomes the eighth full-time manager in franchise history, Schaeffer said a major goal for him is to continue guiding a young roster toward success through collective strength.
“I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to continue leading this team,” Schaeffer said. “My focus remains on continuing to build a strong, unified culture based on accountability, hard work and trust. We have a group of guys who care deeply about competing the right way, and my goal is to keep strengthening those relationships while leading a team that our fans can embrace and be proud of.”
Schaeffer, 40, served as the Rockies’ third-base coach and infield coach prior to being named interim manager. He has been with the organization in a coaching/player development capacity for more than a decade after his professional playing career ended. He was selected by the Rockies in the 38th round of the 2007 MLB Draft out of Virginia Tech, and he was an infielder in Colorado’s farm system from '07-12.
Following his career as a player, Schaeffer transitioned into coaching. In 2015, he was named manager of the Rockies’ Single-A affiliate, the Asheville Tourists. From '18-19, Schaeffer managed the Double-A Hartford Yard Goats, and from '21-22, he managed the Triple-A Albuquerque Isotopes before joining the Major League coaching staff.
“We’re confident Warren is the right person to lead our club moving forward,” said Rockies president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta, who was hired earlier this month. “He has established strong relationships with our players, understands the culture of this franchise and embodies the energy and work ethic we want on and off the field.”
Schaeffer took the helm for the Rockies on May 11, after the club began the season 7-33 (a .175 winning percentage). Through the rest of the 2025 campaign, Colorado went 36-86 (.295).
With one of the youngest rosters in the Majors and a franchise-record 13 players making their MLB debut in 2025, Colorado endured another season of growing pains that ended with a franchise-record 119 losses. That marked the third consecutive season of more than 100 losses for the Rockies and their seventh straight losing season.
Schaeffer said that there was a palpable sense at the end of a difficult 2025 campaign that this would represent a turning point for the organization.
“I know that the players, they felt that strongly,” Schaeffer said, “that they did not want to go through this again.”
It was a rocky start for Schaeffer after he took over as interim manager, with Colorado losing 17 of the next 19 games. But in a stretch that indicated Schaeffer was able to connect with his young players and help them cultivate their skills at the Major League level, the club won eight of its next 15, nearly doubling its season win total in the process.
The Rockies played nearly .500 baseball the first six weeks after the All-Star break, winning 17 of 35 games and further bolstering the case that Schaeffer had found a way to somewhat steady the ship. Colorado ended the season by losing 23 of its final 29 games.
As the organization moves ahead, it is showing confidence in Schaeffer's ability to connect with and build relationships with young players trying to establish themselves at the Major League level, hoping that it will lead to improvements on the field and the emergence of a core identity that eventually leads to a return to postseason contention.
Schaeffer said that in his discussions with DePodesta, he has already found that they share many similarities in the way they view how to transform the Rockies, over time, into a competitive club.
“Since he’s been hired, we’ve been in consistent contact,” Schaeffer said. “My initial impression is that he’s a very smart man, personable, a good listener, thoughtful and definitely process-driven and process-oriented, which is a very good thing. I like the way he thinks.”
There is much work to do. But Schaeffer said that the experience he was able to gain from managing the club for the majority of the 2025 season will serve him well in his endeavor to turn things around.
“That time, for me as a learning manager on the job, was invaluable,” Schaeffer said. “Just learning all kinds of lessons on a daily basis. What works, what doesn’t work in a clubhouse. How to treat certain players, learning their personalities. What works and doesn’t work on the field.
“You learn from mistakes. For me, if you’re not learning, what are you doing?”
The Rockies will need to build from the ground up, and developing a winning culture will be central to that effort.
That culture, Schaeffer said, needs to be “player-driven” in order to be sustainable. He said that he and the coaching staff will serve as “guard rails” and resources to point the players in the right direction, but the players and their relationships are key.
Schaeffer mentioned several players whom he sees as leaders on the club who could help establish such a culture. The first name that instantly came to mind was Kyle Freeland, a hometown veteran who shares with fellow pitcher Antonio Senzatela the distinction of being the longest-tenured Rockies player.
“I see Kyle taking on a bigger leadership role this coming season than he’s ever done,” Schaeffer said. “Maybe searching the depths of his being for a different version or deeper version of leadership that he’s going to pull out moving forward.”
Schaeffer also mentioned Senzatela, Ezequiel Tovar and others. One player who made huge strides individually in 2025 is Hunter Goodman, whom Schaeffer sees as a developing leader among the younger players.
Goodman was an All-Star and a Silver Slugger Award winner for his exploits at the plate, which included the first 30-plus home run campaign (31) for Colorado since the trio of Nolan Arenado, Trevor Story and Charlie Blackmon in 2019.
“He plays with an intensity that is contagious, that players look toward,” Schaeffer said of Goodman. “Goody wants it. He wants to lead. And it’s our job to show him the best way to do that.”
The job will be challenging, but Schaeffer’s thoughts continually return to the players and what he and his coaching staff can do to put them in the best position to succeed.
“I do believe in this group of guys,” Schaeffer said. “At the end of the day, we want to develop a culture where they run the show and they teach the next generation of Rockies players how we do things here. And it leads to winning season after winning season."