2025 was a bad year for the Colorado Rockies that included many mid-season shakeups.<\/p>\n
On Mother\u2019s Day, we saw long-time manager Bud Black and bench coach Mike Redmond relieved of their duties<\/a> and Warren Schaeffer promoted to interim manager. (I remember the date because I was at Disneyland when the news broke.) It was something I\u2019d advocated for before<\/a>, but suddenly, we got to see how \u201cThe Schaeffer Way\u201d<\/a> would look in real time at the major league level. It was in less-than-ideal circumstances, but I do believe we saw Schaeffer take the sinking Titanic and turn it into Jack Sparrow\u2019s dingy floating into Port Royal.<\/p>\n Entering 2026, Schaeffer has been given the reins full-time and is taking the opportunity to make this team his own after merely keeping them afloat in 2025.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n So far, from everything we\u2019ve seen<\/a>, it\u2019s been a marked departure from the Bud Black years. Every practice is detailed and scheduled, and there are opportunities for players and coaches to learn from each other \u2014 not just players learning from coaches. Batting cage time is also built into the schedule rather than being expected to happen on players\u2019 own time, and they\u2019re even starting the day later so players can get more sleep. It\u2019s a very clear change from the previous regime, but we still have yet to see how this \u201cSchaeffer Way\u201d will translate over a 162-game season.<\/p>\n The Manager<\/p>\n If there are two words to describe Warren Schaeffer, they\u2019re probably \u201ccommunicator\u201d and \u201crelationship builder.\u201d<\/p>\n Throughout his tenure in the Rockies organization, Schaeffer has built a reputation on being an excellent communicator fosters relationships with everybody \u2013 players, coaches, media, you name it. And that\u2019s one of the first things people notice about him.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n \u201cHe remembers your kids\u2019 names and your wife\u2019s name,\u201d said new hitting coach Brett Pill. \u201cObviously, that\u2019s huge with Schaeff, and one of the reasons why I\u2019m fired up to be on his staff.\u201d<\/p>\n The players concur with the decision to give Schaeffer the full-time position.<\/p>\n \u201cFirst and foremost, bringing Schaeff back was huge for us,\u201d said outfielder Mickey Moniak. \u201cI think just what he brings to a clubhouse day in and day out and what he brings to this organization\u2026 I think he\u2019s the right guy for the job and the right guy to lead us.\u201d<\/p>\n And PBO Paul DePodesta stands by his decision to retain Schaeffer, despite a complete overhaul in just about every other area of the organization.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the first orders of business when I came on was to hire a manager, but we had an interim one in place in Warren,\u201d DePodesta told MLB Network on Saturday<\/a>. \u201cI dug as much as I could around the organization \u2013 people who were still with the organization, also people who had been there previously \u2013 and everyone raved about him! So I thought, \u2018OK, this is a real candidate.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cAnd then as I got to spend more and more hours within the first couple weeks on the job it just became obvious,\u201d he continued. \u201cHe literally checked every box we were looking for. I mean, great passion, great relationships with the players, terrific work ethic, wanted to be a great partner with us. So for all of those reasons, I just thought he was the obvious pick.\u201d<\/p>\n And that work ethic can be traced all the way back to Schaeffer\u2019s time with the Double-A Tulsa Drillers.<\/p>\n \u201cI played with him in Double-A,\u201d said former Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado<\/a>. \u201cI was young at the time. I was a pain in the butt at that time. But we got along great because he loved that I worked. And he was a big worker, too. He took ground balls everyday. And the one thing about Schaeff \u2013 there were times where he wasn\u2019t starting in those games, but he was still working every day and never complained. He showed up to work.\u201d<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Schaeffer may have hung up his spikes in 2013, but he turned to coaching and never looked back \u2013 climbing the ladder from Low-A Asheville all the way up to the majors. Much of that has to do with his communication and relationship building abilities.<\/p>\n And not only is Schaeffer a good communicator himself, but he has built a staff of good communicators and teachers who are ready to build up the Rockies from the studs.<\/p>\n On Sunday, I asked Schaeffer to describe each member of his coaching staff in one word, and here\u2019s what he had to say about them:<\/p>\n Dugout Coaches<\/p>\n Bench Coach, Jeff Pickler: \u201cPrepared\u201d<\/p>\n Assistant Bench Coach, Ron Gideon: \u201cWise\u201d<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Jeff Pickler, 50, joined the Rockies from the Cincinnati Reds after spending 2019-2024 in the same role. Prior to that, he spent time with the Minnesota Twins, Los Angeles Dodgers, San DIego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks. He also spent one year as an assistant coach for the University of Arizona Wildcats. Most notably, he worked with GM Josh Byrnes during his time with the Diamondbacks, Padres and Dodgers.<\/p>\n Ron Gideon has been with the Rockies since 1996. He spent time as a manager at every level except for Triple-A and MLB, but was promoted to a major league role in 2017. He became the first base coach before the 2019 season, and was moved to assistant bench coach this offseason. Gideon, 62, is the longest-tenured coach on the staff, as well as the oldest.<\/p>\n Hitting Coaches<\/p>\n Hitting Coach, Brett Pill: \u201cRelentless\u201d<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Assistant Hitting Coach, Jordan Pacheco: \u201cSmooth\u201d<\/p>\n Brett Pill and Jordan Pacheco couldn\u2019t be more different.<\/p>\n Pacheco, 40, was drafted in the ninth round of the 2007 MLB Draft by the Rockies and made his MLB debut with them four years later. He played 3.5 years in Colorado before being DFA\u2019d in 2014 and being claimed by the Diamondbacks. He played 1.5 years in the desert before finishing his playing career in Cincinnati. He attempted multiple comebacks, but never made another MLB roster. However, he then returned to the Rockies in 2021 with \u2013 you guessed it \u2013 Warren Schaeffer.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve known [Pacheco] for a very, very long time,\u201d Schaeffer said. \u201cHe\u2019s one of my close friends, and he is great at what he does. There\u2019s nobody more positive in a dugout than him, and hitting is so hard that you need a special person in there with positivity.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n \u201cAnd he\u2019s able to teach everything. The players flock to him. That\u2019s how you can tell good hitting coaches \u2013 if the players are around them and on TV you can see it on the camera in the dugout, the players are around \u2018Checo\u2019 all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Pill, 41, came to the Rockies alongside Byrnes after spending four seasons with the Tulsa Drillers (now the Double-A Dodgers). He is brand new to the organization, but brings a lot of good ideas.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s fantastic,\u201d Schaeffer said. \u201cHe has a really, really solid background, He\u2019s just been fantastic so far in there in terms of his preparation and what he\u2019s working on with the guys.\u201d<\/p>\n And Schaeffer noticed the important thing about having two coaches from very different backgrounds.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n \u201cProbably the most important thing of it all is [Pill] and Pacheco are already one,\u201d he said. \u201cThings get tricky when one guy\u2019s saying one thing and one guy\u2019s saying the other thing. But those two are rock solid with each other, and it\u2019s gonna be a fun ride.\u201d<\/p>\n (You can read more about Pill\u2019s approach to the Rockies here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n Pitching Coaches<\/p>\n Pitching Coach, Alon Leichman: \u201cUnique\u201d<\/p>\n Assistant Pitching Coach, Gabe Ribas: \u201cPolished\u201d<\/p>\n Bullpen Coach, Matt Buschmann: \u201cFunny\u201d<\/p>\n Alon Leichman, 36, certainly does have a unique reputation. The thing that follows him around is that he likes to call pitches from the dugout, which is something he did for the Miami Marlins and Cincinnati Reds before he came to the Rockies. So far, the players have been gravitating to his presence.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n \u201cToday, I threw with Alon because he wanted to work on my sweeper and cutter,\u201d said Zach Agnos on February 15. \u201cSo it was good, and he got to see it firsthand. We had a good talk, and he\u2019s kind of building up some confidence in us, which is good too. He just kept being like, \u2018You\u2019re nasty, bro, you\u2019re nasty. Trust [yourself].\u2019 He\u2019s like, \u2018You\u2019re nasty!\u2019 So it\u2019s cool to hear. It\u2019s always nice to hear \u2013 I believe it \u2013 but it never hurts to hear.\u201d<\/p>\n Agnos also mentioned working with the new coaches has been \u201cthe most fun [he\u2019s] had playing catch.\u201d<\/p>\n Ryan Feltner is also on board with pitches being called from the dugout.<\/p>\n