Warren Schaeffer is settled in to managing role, puts his stamp on the lineup

DENVER — Warren Schaeffer is a week into his stint as Colorado Rockies interim manager, and already he’s putting his stamp on the lineup to try and shake the team from its lingering, historic funk.

Brenton Doyle is out of the leadoff spot, moving down the order over the weekend in Arizona. Jordan Beck — the team’s OPS leader who was briefly optioned to AAA Albuquerque last month and returned to discover a power stroke that resulted in a flurry of home runs — is in, with Ezequiel Tovar and Hunter Goodman behind him at the No. 2 and 3 spots.

“More thump,” Warren Schaeffer said.

Doyle had a .606 OPS in the leadoff spot this season, so objectively, the move made sense.

But it was a shift that started with a conversation.

“Well, I asked B.D. you know, a couple days into the job whether he was committed to the leadoff spot. Did he love it? Because it’s a big deal,” Schaeffer said.

“I think for a player, that can be a spot that some people don’t like. And he told me that he wasn’t crazy about it and he needed a little time. “I said, ‘All right, let’s go, and so I’m gonna bump you, and then it’s gonna be good for you, it’s gonna be good for the team.”

It’s too early to gauge the results just yet. Beck went 4-for-12 in three games at Arizona in the leadoff spot. In one game, Colorado scored 14 runs. In the other two, the Rox were shut out.

But at least it’s something tangible as Warren Schaeffer uses pinch hitters, tinkers with the lineup card and tries to wring what he can from a lineup whose form has only made news for the wrong reasons through 46 games.

It’s why he’s manager, of course. Had the team been in form, Bud Black would not have been dismissed.

HOW WARREN SCHAEFFER HAD TO BROADEN HIS PERSPECTIVE

“Preparation for the game is different — a lot different,” Warren Schaeffer said. “And I didn’t realize how much different that would be.”

In one day, he found himself launched into a different ocean.

“So, when I’m coaching third base, I prepare for outfield arms, I prepare for how the catcher blocks, I prepare for who we can take advantage of to steal third base. Those three things, mainly,” he said.

“Here, I’m preparing for matchups on both sides of the ball — which take a long time, preparing for conversations I’m going to have throughout the day with players, talking to the previous night’s starter, making sure we’re on the same page.

“There’s just a lot more going on, and it comes back to me slowly from doing it in my minor-league days. A lot of it doesn’t change from that. It’s just been a while since I’ve done that.”

But some things are vastly different. Take how he spent part of his 3 p.m. hour Monday: surrounded by a phalanx of media, answering questions. For a team off to the worst start in the modern era of major-league baseball, that might be expected to take on a firing-squad quality.

However …

“I would say just dealing with the media has been easier than I expected. You guys have been great,” he said. “I always worry that maybe that would be a difficult point for me to get used to, and I’m still going to evolve with that.”

A DIFFERENT VIEW FROM HIS LAST TIME AS MANAGER

Warren Schaeffer managed at three different minor-league levels: three seasons at then-low-A Asheville (2015-17), two at AA Hartford (2018-19) and two more at AAA Albuquerque (2021-22). In each case, that meant he also pulled double duty working as a third-base coach.

“The game in Texas was the first game I ever managed from the dugout in my life,” Schaeffer said.

So, now, with a larger staff, there’s less on Schaeffer’s plate.

“No doubt that’s a part of the learning process, which I love, because I got a good group of coaches in there,” he said. “I love delegating. I think they’re all great. They do their job great.

“There are some certain things where I’m going to have to pull back on because I’m used to doing a lot of physical labor, which I love to do.

“And I’m just going to let [third-base coach] Andy [González] handle the infield and try to be calm and back off physically.”

Last week, at one point, Warren Schaeffer was still hitting ground balls to infielders; now, he’ll let González handle that.

“I think Andy kicked me out the other day,” he said

Bit by bit, Warren Schaeffer’s getting the hang of this managing thing. Now, he just needs a few more wins to come.

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