{"id":598186,"date":"2026-02-28T14:33:20","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T14:33:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/598186\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T14:33:20","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T14:33:20","slug":"colorado-rockies-installing-new-plan-to-jumpstart-stalled-offense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/598186\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado Rockies installing new plan to jumpstart stalled offense"},"content":{"rendered":"

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. \u2014 Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer knows what his dream offense looks like.\n<\/p>\n

He envisions a unit that consistently puts the ball in play and is fueled by speed and aggressive baserunning. He wants Coors Field to become a nightmare on Blake Street for opposing teams. Home runs are great, but Schaeffer is not conjuring up the second coming of the Blake Street Bombers.<\/p>\n

He envisions the \u201cGo Go Rox.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSince Day 1, that\u2019s one of the things I\u2019ve been preaching,\u201d Schaeffer said. \u201cIt\u2019s got to be part of our game. We have to be able to score runs in different ways, as opposed to just going station to station and trying to hit a home run. And we\u2019ve got to be able to be more productive on the road.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reimagining their offense and making it a reality is a central theme of spring training as the Rockies try to rebound from a disastrous 119-loss season<\/a>, one marred by a swing-and-whiff offense that was the worst in franchise history.\n<\/p>\n

Brett Pill, the club\u2019s new hitting coach, believes the Rockies will turn things around.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s early, and it\u2019s still a work in progress, and I\u2019m still getting to know the players, and we tweak things all of the time, but we\u2019re getting there,\u201d said Pill, who spent the previous six seasons in the Dodgers organization, most recently as the minor league hitting coordinator from 2023-25.\n<\/p>\n

Pill is an advocate of melding modern technology and data with old-fashioned, one-on-one teaching.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody looks at things differently,\u201d he said. \u201cSo what we are trying to do is tailor information to the players without overloading them with stuff. We want to make it pretty actionable and enable them to walk to the plate with a clear head.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many of the players appeared muddleheaded last season when\u00a0Colorado set franchise lows in batting average (.237), on-base percentage (.293), slugging (.386), and hits and runs in a full 162-game season (1,282\/597).
\n\"ColoradoColorado Rockies center fielder Brenton Doyle (9) strikes out swinging against New York Yankees pitcher Clarke Schmidt (36) in the first inning at Coors Field in Denver on Friday, May 23, 2025. (Photo by Andy Cross\/The Denver Post)\n<\/p>\n

The Rockies\u2019 1,531 strikeouts were the third-most in franchise history, and their 51.0 swing percentage, 31.7 chase percentage, and 29 percent whiff percentage were all the highest in the majors. In other words, there were far too many empty at-bats.<\/p>\n

Colorado was shut out 18 times last season, a franchise-worst. During a three-game series at San Diego <\/a>in April, the Rockies became the first team in the modern era to score zero runs, have fewer than 10 hits, and strike out at least 30 times in a three-game sweep.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Laying off bad pitches<\/p>\n

To jump-start the Go Go Rox, Pill is urging his hitters to simplify things and focus on the \u201cGo Zone.\u201d Sometimes called the \u201chot zone,\u201d the \u201cGo Zone\u201d is defined as the optimal area within the strike zone where a hitter has the highest probability of success. It is a mental and visual cue for hitters to aggressively attack specific, hittable pitches. The hope is that the Rockies\u2019 young hitter will cut down on swinging at pitches outside the strike zone.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s nothing groundbreaking,\u201d Pill said. \u201cIt\u2019s based mostly on the pitcher we are facing and where we want to hunt for a pitch. That way we can commit to an area and hopefully lay off the other stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u201cother stuff\u201d includes the \u201cchase zone,\u201d where pitches that start out as strikes but then bend away. It\u2019s so named because pitchers who throw there are attempting to induce a chase. The Rockies have failed to recognize chase pitches for several seasons.<\/p>\n

But catcher Hunter Goodman, Colorado\u2019s lone All-Star last season,<\/a> likes what\u2019s being done during camp to rectify the situation.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are trying to simplify things a little bit to help us find the zone,\u201d said Goodman, who slashed .278\/.323\/.520 with 31 home runs last season. \u201cPlus, coach Pill has put an emphasis on being more aggressive early in counts, and being ready for the first pitch to hit and getting your swing off on that one.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think certain guys did a good job of that, but there were also times when guys were too passive and let the pitcher get ahead in counts. We took some pitches that maybe we could have gotten some good swings off early. We needed to tweak our approach.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"HunterHunter Goodman (15) of the Colorado Rockies reacts to hitting a homerun off of Josh Hader (71) of the Houston Astros during the ninth inning of Houston\u2019s 6-5 win at Coors Field in Denver on Tuesday, July 1, 2025. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz\/The Denver Post)<\/p>\n

In an attempt to reduce Ks and limit their penchant for swinging at pitches outside the strike zone, the Rockies expanded their analytics department. Schaeffer, however, believes the club made other important changes.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst and foremost, it\u2019s about personnel,\u201d he said. \u201cA lot of guys can innately control the zone. That\u2019s their gift.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schaeffer singled out infielder Willi Castro and outfielder Jake McCarthy as players who handle a bat and the strike zone well and can put the ball in play with some consistency.\n<\/p>\n

Other players, however, need more help.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we work on it, and include everybody in the process,\u201d Schaeffer said. \u201cOur biomechanics guy (Brandon Stone, manager of performance science) works to get everybody in the right position. Maybe somebody is chasing a lot because their body is not in the right position. We examine that. Every guy is different.\u201d<\/p>\n

Added Pill: \u201cMechanically, maybe we pull a guy away from the plate a bit. And some of the problems could be that guys were trying too hard not to strike out. So, maybe, early in the count, they took a pitch that maybe they should have hit. Or they fouled off pitches they should have hit. Then they got down two strikes and found themselves in trouble. We want to eliminate those things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Simplifying things<\/p>\n

Every team, of course, has detailed scouting reports on opposing pitchers. Players, to varying degrees, also watch videos on pitchers they will face. But information overload, resulting in paralysis by analysis in the batter\u2019s box, is a real concern.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cOur job is to distill information to our hitters,\u201d said Amir Mamdani, Colorado\u2019s director of baseball operations. \u201cThat\u2019s where the idea of the \u201cGo Zone\u201d comes in.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that last year, and in the years prior, guys were trying to cover too many different things. Guys were trying to cover four pitches, three areas, and pitchers\u2019 tendencies in certain counts. I think Brett wants to distill some of that and simplify things.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SURPRISE,SURPRISE, AZ – FEBRUARY 22: Outfielder Jake McCarthy gets his bat ready for game three of the 2026 Colorado Rockies spring training at Surprise Stadium in Surprise, Arizona on February 22, 2026. The Colorado Rockies took on the Texas Rangers. (Photo by RJ Sangosti\/The Denver Post)<\/p>\n

When Paul DePodesta, president of baseball operations, and Schaeffer were putting together a new coaching staff and adding to the analytics department, they wanted communicators and teachers, not just analytics gurus.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the players are going to read these (scouting reports) but don\u2019t understand them, and get nothing out of it, you might just as well throw them in the trash can,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s about making the information accessible to the players.\u201d<\/p>\n

Goodman said players need to marry data and athleticism when they go to the plate against big-league pitchers whose average fastball velocity has increased from 91.3 mph in 2008 to 94.4 mph in 2025.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to do your own research,\u201d Goodman said. \u201cI think it helps walking up to the plate knowing that you have studied a little, knowing you\u2019ve looked into this guy\u2019s tendencies.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo when I\u2019m on deck, I\u2019ll think about the pitcher\u2019s stuff and maybe his percentages and what he likes to throw in a specific count. But once you step into the box, it\u2019s about competing at that point.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schaeffer is confident the Rockies are finding a formula that will allow them to compete in 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this level, pitching and hitting are a huge cat-and-mouse game,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a huge thing to tackle. But I think we have brought in the personnel to help us solve this. I believe that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Want more Rockies news? Sign up for the Rockies Insider to get all our MLB analysis.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. \u2014 Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer knows what his dream offense looks like. He envisions a unit…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":598187,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2405],"tags":[1485,5,42571,1004,167,52,4316,1009,2335,2092,853,4,1027,58626,168,33010,185,151,9130],"class_list":{"0":"post-598186","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-colorado-rockies","8":"tag-analytics","9":"tag-baseball","10":"tag-blake-street-bombers","11":"tag-brenton-doyle","12":"tag-colorado","13":"tag-colorado-rockies","14":"tag-coloradorockies","15":"tag-coors-field","16":"tag-home-run","17":"tag-hunter-goodman","18":"tag-latest-headlines","19":"tag-mlb","20":"tag-more-rockies-news","21":"tag-paul-depodesta","22":"tag-rockies","23":"tag-rockies-insider","24":"tag-sports","25":"tag-spring-training","26":"tag-warren-schaeffer"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116148752766171077","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=598186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598186\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/598187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=598186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=598186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=598186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}