Rockies bring back Schaeffer as manager for 2026

The Rockies are removing the”interim” tag from Warren Schaeffer’s title.

Monday, the team finally clarified its leadership situation in the dugout, giving its interim manager of the last six-and-a-half months the full-time role under new president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta.

Patrick Saunders of The Denver Post was first to report the move.

The Colorado Rockies announced today that Warren Schaeffer has been named the club’s manager. pic.twitter.com/BjApvDfm81

— Rockies Club Information (@RockiesClubInfo) November 24, 2025

Given how long the Rockies lingered before making a move, the eventual choice comes as no surprise.

Every other club with a managerial vacancy in the offseason had filled the role. Some did so quickly; others — specifically the Atlanta Braves and San Diego Padres — waited until November to announce their choices. But the Rox weren’t going to do anything until finding their replacement for Bill Schmidt to guide their baseball operations.

Schaeffer had a thankless task after assuming the reins in the wake of Bud Black’s Mother’s Day sacking, inheriting a team with a 7-33 record. The Rockies went 36-86 on his watch, which represented some improvement.

But after an uptick in June, July and into mid-August, the Rox faded late. In September, the club went 4-21, reverting to the form it displayed in April and May, when it went 4-22 and 4-24, respectively.

Schaeffer, like many others in the baseball operations side of organization, is a lifer steeped in the club’s way of doing things.

A draft pick of the Rox in 2017 from Virginia Tech, Schaeffer has known no other organization as a player, coach and manager in 19 professional seasons.

There was some thought that could have worked against him, especially with DePodesta already beginning to clean house in the team’s minor-league operation, dismissing four members of the club’s pitching-development staff.

But Schaeffer’s work behind the scenes last year ended up carrying plenty of weight.

“We’re confident Warren is the right person to lead our club moving forward,” DePodesta said in a statement. “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.”

Added Schaeffer in a statement: “I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to continue leading this team. 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 LAUDED BY ROCKIES PLAYERS

Rockies players praised his ability to relate to them, a skill borne from a combination of factors that included his age (40, 28 years younger than Black), his relatively recent experience as a player in the club’s minor-league system and his work within that system as a coach and manager.

Schaeffer coached or managed many of the homegrown Rockies on their way up through the ranks, spending three seasons (2015-17) managing the Asheville Tourists at the low-A level, two years guiding the AA Hartford Yard Goats (2018-19) and then a pair of seasons at the helm of the AAA Albuquerque Isotopes before joining Black’s staff as third-base and infield coach in 2023.

But Schaeffer wasn’t afraid to call players out and demand accountability, either.

Perhaps the most notable example came in the wake of Kyle Freeland’s ejection following a shouting match and a subsequent benches-clearing fracas on Sept. 2.

He refused to make excuses for the longtime rotation stalwart.

“At the end of the day, when your starter doesn’t get an out in the first inning and he’s gone, that hurts the ballclub. That hurts the ballclub,” Schaeffer said. “He knows that.”

It was the sort of moment which showed that Schaeffer had the capability to be a solid dugout leader at the major-league level.

Now he gets the opportunity with a bit more permanence to his name.

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