Brett Pill Takes Over as Rockies’ Hitting Coach, Tasked With Fixing a Broken Offense
DENVER - After a 2025 season where the Colorado Rockies’ offense struggled mightily, the team is turning to Brett Pill to help right the ship. Hired Friday as the new hitting coach, Pill steps into a role that’s as much about rebuilding confidence as it is about refining swings.
Let’s not sugarcoat it: the Rockies’ offense was a mess last season. They finished with a 43-119 record, and the numbers behind that record paint a clear picture of why.
According to Baseball Savant, Colorado led the Majors in swing rate (51%), chase rate (31.7%), and whiff rate (29.0%). That’s a troubling trio that suggests hitters weren’t just aggressive - they were undisciplined and ineffective.
And while strikeouts are up across the league, the Rockies’ 1,531 Ks were second-most in baseball. The only team with more?
The World Series-winning Dodgers - but they also launched 244 home runs. Colorado, by contrast, managed just 160, sixth-fewest in the Majors.
That’s the kind of imbalance that sinks a lineup: high strikeouts, low power, and little patience.
Enter Brett Pill.
The 41-year-old spent the last six seasons working with Dodgers hitters in the Minor Leagues, the last three as their hitting coordinator. He comes from an organization known for blending elite talent with cutting-edge player development. And while Colorado doesn’t have the same infrastructure as L.A., they’re hoping Pill can bring some of that magic with him.
But Pill isn’t just a product of the Dodgers’ system - he’s known for his ability to connect with players on an individual level. Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer emphasized that point when talking about the hire.
“One of the things that stood out to us was his ability to teach to the individual - take an individual strength and keep it a strength,” Schaeffer said. “He has the ability to diagnose each individual player and give him exactly what he needs. There’s nothing cookie cutter about Brett Pill.”
That kind of tailored approach is exactly what this young Rockies roster needs. Because while the team’s offensive issues are systemic, hitting at its core is still an individual craft. And improvement often comes not from wholesale changes, but from small, personalized adjustments - a tweak in timing, a refined approach, a better understanding of pitch recognition.
Pill’s arrival also follows a year of coaching turnover in Colorado. The Rockies began the season with Hensley Meulens as their hitting coach, but he was replaced in April by former manager Clint Hurdle, who had been serving in a special advisor role. When Bud Black was removed as manager in May, Schaeffer stepped in as interim manager, Hurdle slid over to bench coach, and the hitting coach duties were split between Triple-A coach Jordan Pacheco and Minor League hitting coordinator Nic Wilson.
Now, with Schaeffer officially at the helm, the Rockies are trying to stabilize the staff. Pill is the first major addition on the hitting side. On the pitching side, the team has already brought in Alon Leichman as pitching coach, Gabe Ribas as assistant pitching coach, Matt Buschmann as bullpen coach (in a newly created role), and Matt Daniels as director of pitching.
Pill’s baseball roots run deep. He grew up in San Dimas, California, in a baseball family.
His father, Michael, pitched in the Pirates’ system during the 1970s. His brother, Tyler, made a handful of appearances for the Mets in 2017.
Brett played three seasons with the Giants from 2011 to 2013, slashing .233/.279/.404 over 111 games and contributing to San Francisco’s 2012 World Series run. After that, he spent three years with the Kia Tigers in Korea, then transitioned into scouting and coaching.
Last season, Pill even spent time in the Dodgers’ dugout while hitting coach Aaron Bates was on a health-related leave. That stint gave him a taste of big-league coaching and a chance to work under Josh Byrnes - who, in a twist of fate, is now the Rockies’ general manager.
So what’s next for the Rockies’ offense under Pill? Realistically, this isn’t going to be a Braves 2021 or Blue Jays 2025 situation - two recent examples of teams that went from offensive underperformers to World Series contenders in a short span. Colorado’s roster is young, and outside of a few veteran additions, that’s not likely to change overnight.
But that doesn’t mean improvement is out of reach.
“It’s a little bit of both,” said Rockies president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta at the Winter Meetings, when asked about the balance between individual development and team-wide offensive philosophy. “Some of it certainly is the individual. We’re trying to look at different parts of their makeup and say, ‘How do we improve this part of their game?’”
“At the same time,” DePodesta added, “there absolutely is a team aspect to it - being willing to pass the baton to the next hitter if you don’t get the pitches you think you can drive. Toronto is a great example of it.
When you watched them in October, it was very much a team offensive approach. Those guys trusted in the other players in the lineup.
No one tried to do too much.”
That’s the kind of culture the Rockies are hoping to build under Pill - one where hitters trust the process, trust each other, and learn to grind out competitive at-bats. It won’t happen overnight. But with a coach who understands both the data and the human side of hitting, Colorado is finally taking a step in the right direction.