Colorado Rockies: Let’s Meet The Albuquerque Isotopes

Mar 25, 2015; Salt River Pima-Maricopa, AZ, USA; General view of the game between the Colorado Rockies and the San Francisco Giants at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports

Coaching Staff

Manager: Glenallen Hill.

Coaches: Dave Hajek (hitting), Darryl Scott (pitching).

Hill played 13 years in the Majors, winning a World Series in 2000 and slashing .271/.321/.482 with 186 career home runs for the Blue Jays, Indians, Cubs, Giants, Mariners, Yankees, and Angels. He retired in 2001, and has been a coach in the Rockies system since 2004, when he was the hitting coach at Class A-Advanced Visalia.

He’s managed the Modesto Nuts (2006) and the Colorado Springs Sky Sox (2014), and from ’07-’12 was the Rockies’ first base coach under Clint Hurdle and Jim Tracy. He’ll return to manage the team’s AAA affiliate in Albuquerque after leading the Sky Sox to just a 53-91 record last season.

Hitting coach Dave Hajek got 12 Major League at-bats with the Houston Astros between 1995 and 1996, and spent minor league time with affiliates in the Astros, Tigers, Padres, and Rockies organizations between 1990 and 1999, finishing his playing career with the Sky Sox.

He was a career .301/.344/.408 minor league hitter in 4,475 plate appearances, and yet couldn’t break into the big leagues for more than three career hits. Interestingly, one of his three career hits was a single on an 0-2 pitch off Curt Schilling on September 10, 1996 as a member of the Astros. Not bad. But after his cup of coffee, he never made it back to the show.

Hajek has been a hitting coach with the Rockies since 2004, spending time in Asheville (’04-’06), Modesto (’06 and ’07), Tulsa (’08-’11), Colorado Springs (2014), and now returning to AAA to coach in Albuquerque.

Pitching coach Darryl Scott appeared in 16 games for the 1993 California Angels, going 1-2 with a 5.85 ERA and 1.50 WHIP in 20 innings in the big leagues. His minor league career lasted from 1990 to 2000 and spanned 482 games, but like Hajek, he’d only taste a small amount of big league time.

He’s been a pitching coach in the Rockies’ organization since 2010, spending time in Modesto (’10-’12), Tulsa (2014) and now Albuquerque, his first season in AAA. He was also the Salt River Rafters’ pitching coach in 2012 in the prestigious Arizona Fall League.