The Rockies are back where they always seem to end up: staring at their pitching mess and looking for a new answer.
Colorado moved on from pitching coach Alon Leichman on Thursday after just one season, a change that comes on the heels of a 58-104 finish. It was the fourth straight year the club landed in that 100-loss range, and the latest reminder that the organization still hasn’t found a way to stop the bleeding on the mound.
For president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta, this isn’t just about filling one coaching vacancy. The next hire could say a lot about how he plans to reshape a team that has spent years trying, and failing, to solve the same problem.
Leichman walked into a brutal situation. Colorado was already coming off three bad seasons and what the article describes as a historically atrocious 2025, when the pitching staff posted a 5.97 ERA. He arrived with experience from the Cincinnati Reds and Miami Marlins and was expected to bring fresh ideas to a staff that badly needed them.
Some of those ideas did go in. The Rockies used pitch calling from the dugout and altered how pitchers prepared between starts.
But the bottom line never changed. Colorado finished the 2026 campaign with the MLB-worst ERA at 5.59, allowed 944 runs and 1,635 hits, and saw opponents hit .288 against the staff.
The pitchers also totaled just 1,113 strikeouts.
The rotation was even rougher than the team average, finishing with a 6.28 ERA.
That kind of production made a coaching change feel inevitable, but it also raises the real question: how much can one coach actually move the needle?
DePodesta addressed the bigger picture in his postseason media appearance, making it clear the Rockies have to attack their problems differently. The next move isn’t just about choosing a name; it’s about choosing a direction. Does Colorado go with an experienced pitching coach who has a track record with starters, or does it lean into someone with a strong analytics background and a modern pitching approach?
Either way, the job has to be bigger than being another voice in the room. The Rockies need a philosophy that can carry pitchers from the minors to the majors and hold up in one of baseball’s toughest environments.
The organization has already tried to build more depth through the draft, but those arms are still years away from helping. In the meantime, Colorado may be better served developing pitchers from within so they can gain experience at Coors Field instead of relying on another veteran to walk into the same uphill battle.
And there’s plenty more unsettled beyond the coaching search. Veterans Kyle Freeland, Jose Quintana and Tomoyuki Sugano are all nearing free agency, which could mean major turnover in a rotation that is already unstable.
Younger arms such as Mason Adams and Chase Dollander are part of the picture going forward. Dollander is recovering from elbow surgery, so his development and recovery matter even more with so much changing around him. The Rockies also have to figure out whether pitchers like Ryan Feltner can be effective in a different role.
Ultimately, this is bigger than the pitching coach spot. Colorado’s front office, coaching staff and development group all have to work from the same plan if the club is going to produce pitchers who can adjust and survive in one of the sport’s most difficult settings.
The next hire will face the same wall Leichman did. The challenge is not one coach deep.
It’s organizational. And DePodesta’s next move may be the clearest sign yet of how he wants to tackle it.
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