PHOENIX, Ariz. — The Colorado Rockies have made it one-third of the way through the season. They have gone 21-32, which is 13 games better than they were through 54 games in 2025. They started off well – going 14-18 in the months of March and April – but have cooled off significantly through May.
Over the weekend in Phoenix, manager Warren Schaeffer offered his insights as to what’s been working and what hasn’t.
Early season successes, challenges and surprises
For Schaeffer, the pieces are there. It’s just a matter of the Rockies playing consistently.
“We have a group of guys that compete night in and night out,” he said.
“I know early in the season, our bullpen was one of the best in the league – extremely strong and holding games down at the end. I think the offense was clicking early on and moving the line very well. And I think when we do those things and we get good starting pitching – which we did as well, we kept scores low – we won more ballgames. But it’s a formula that we can do every night. We have the ability to do that every night, and then it’s just a matter of putting it all together.”
The thing that has changed in May, when the Rockies have gone 6-16, is “a lack of offensive execution in big moments,” Schaeffer said.
“I think that has been a consistent theme this month, and also just inconsistency in all three facets of the game – starting pitching, bullpen work and offense. Just inconsistency where we can get better at that. We have the personnel to get better at that.”
The Rockies are 6-9 in one-run games, and 4-7 in two-run games. It’s a matter of executing the little things and getting over the top, which is something they work on everyday.
“It’s a daily grind,” Schaeffer said. “It’s not from a lack of trying and lack of work. We’re just trying to move the ball forward every single day in everything that we do. [We’ve got] great plans of attack against pitchers every night. [We’re] prepared on the pitching side more than I’ve ever seen. It’s just a matter of us learning to put it all together on a consistent basis.”
Baseball is a unique sport because teams play every day, while other sports have more days in between to prepare and practice. But that just means that what the players are working on might take a little longer to show up.
“These guys are working from 1:00 to 5:00 and then play a game at 7:00. That’s a lot of work,” Schaeffer said. “ And sometimes it doesn’t show up, sometimes it does show up that night, and sometimes it’s a process.
“This is a huge process game where each night you have a chance for redemption,” he continued. “You have a brand new opportunity every night, and you put in the work as a man and you know that at some point this is going to pay off. We have a really good ballclub, and it’s just a matter of time before we put it all together.”
However, there have been some early season surprises.
“Troy Johnston has been a really, really nice surprise for us,” Schaeffer said. “On Opening Day, it was borderline if Tyler Freeman was going to be healthy or not and if [Johnston] was going to make the team. And something else happened there, and then he made the club. But he’s been a great surprise.
“TJ Rumfield has also been a great surprise,” he continued. “You never know what you’re going to get out of a guy’s first year in the big leagues. Both of those guys have been incredible surprises on the positive end.”
He mentioned, too, Antonio Senzatela’s incredible story, but with the caveat of “that’s not a surprise. I knew he had it in him.”
Over the offseason, the Rockies completely overhauled their front office and coaching staff. They came in with a new plan and vision, and they’re seeing it emerge on the field.
“It’s showing up well,” Schaeffer said. “We’re looking for progress. We’re looking for a focus on winning, and that stuff is still the same. We’re looking to elevate everything we do, and on a daily basis, we’re definitely doing that as a whole. Our message has been consistent, and I think the daily process has continued to be consistent with that.”
But there haven’t been many adjustments just to keep the messaging steady.
“You can’t be wishy-washy in what you’re trying to do and in the message you’re sending to the players,” Schaeffer emphasized. “I don’t think anything has changed in that regard. I think throughout the season, there’s ebbs and flows to certain things at that moment that are important that you address, but the general theme of upholding a high standard and instituting basically a brand new standard is consistent.”
And the communication between the “Big Three” has remained the same, even though they’re all traveling a lot more than they did in spring training.
“I talk to Paul [DePodesta] every day, whether it’s text or calling on the phone,” Schaeffer said.
“And [Josh] Byrnes, I see him every day when we’re at home, and then every now and then we’ll touch base on the road. He was here in Arizona, but JB is focused heavily on scouting right now. But we have Slack channels and text messages, so there’s a ton of communication.”
There are 108 games left in the season, so a lot can change. But Schaeffer is still looking the forward to “watching these boys grow and play every single day and compete and get better.”
“There’s nothing better for me than to watch guys get better, and as a unit create something special. It’s the same opportunity that we talked about in spring training. It still exists, even though the record doesn’t look like what we want it to right now.
“Every day there’s a brand new opportunity to push something forward, and that’s exciting to me,” he continued, “to watch these guys grow into something special and a winning ballclub.”
But Schaeffer has one message to the fans as the Rockies continue to rebuild and evaluate.
“Know that we’re working hard, and we’re holding a high standard. Everyone here is.”
The Isotopes dropped their series finale in Las Vegas, splitting the series with the Aviators (Athletics). Ryan Feltner made his second rehab start, and pitched solidly. The righty threw five innings, allowing just one run on six hits with one walk and five strikeouts. The Topes’ bullpen struggled, though, as Blake Adams gave up three runs on five hits through three innings with a walk and three strikeouts. But Mason Green blew the save and was saddled with the loss after giving up two runs (one earned) on three hits with a walk and a strikeout in the ninth.
Cole Carrigg (No. 3 PuRP) went 0-for-2 but recorded two walks. Charlie Condon (No. 1 PuRP) went 1-for-3 with two strikeouts, but he did steal a base.
The Yard Goats’ pitching was excellent in the victory over the River Cats (Blue Jays). Konner Eaton (No. 28 PuRP) threw six innings and allowed two runs on six hits with four walks and six strikeouts. Cade Denton entered in the seventh, and pitched two shutout innings with two strikeouts. Carlos Torres earned his second save of the year, allowing just one hit in the ninth with a strikeout.
On the hitting side, Zach Kokoska went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and Braylen Wimmer went 2-for-4.
The Spokane Indians went up 5-1 early, but allowed the Canadians (Blue Jays) to score in five straight innings to overtake them 6-5. Luckily, Alan Espinal singled and stole second in the sixth, and was able to score on a Jacob Hinderleider single three batters later to tie the game. Max Belyeu (No. 15 PuRP) then scored Hinderleider on a sharp grounder of his own, which proved to be the game winnner.
In that first inning, things got started with a Tommy Hopfe solo homer. Then, Roynier Hernandez walked and Kevin Fitzer singled. Espinal walked and then Jack O’Dowd singled to score Hernandez and Fitzer. Robert Calaz (No. 6 PuRP) doubled to score Espinal, and then a bases-loaded walk three batters later scored O’Dowd.
On the pitching side, Jackson Cox (No. 16 PuRP) pitched alright, allowing four runs on seven hits with one walk and three strikeouts. Nathan Blasick ended up with the win after pitching two innings of relief and allowing two runs (one earned) on three hits with one walk and one strikeout. Justin Loer earned the hold with two innings in which he struck out three and did nothing else, and Fisher Jameson earned his first save of 2026 with a clean ninth with a strikeout.
It was a back-and-forth affair in Rancho Cucamonga, but the Grizzlies edged the Quakes (Angels) to move to 25-20 on the season. Every Grizzlies’ starter recorded at least one hit except for Derek Bernard and Kyle Fossum, and Ashly Andujar (No. 20 PuRP) recorded two. The shortstop went 2-for-4 with a double, a home run, one run scored and two RBI.
On the pitching side, Marcos Herrera pitched 5.2 innings and allowed just two runs on three hits with three walks and five strikeouts. Jhon Medina ended up with the win, though, after blowing a save. He pitched two innings and allowed one run on three hits with two walks and a strikeout. Bryson Van Sickle allowed a solo home run in his 1.1 innings of work, but it was the only hit and run he allowed. He also recorded two strikeouts.
The Rockies signed Jack O’Dowd — son of former GM Dan O’Dowd — in the offseason, and he’s been tearing it up in the minor leagues so far. He began the year in Fresno and was promoted to Spokane earlier this week, where he hit two home runs in his debut on Thursday. Thomas Harding caught up with him and discussed his journey to this moment.
José Quintana leaves Rockies-Diamondbacks game with injury | Purple Row
The Rockies’ IL filled up this week with players like Mickey Moniak and Brenton Doyle, but yesterday José Quintana left the game in the second inning after feeling pain and “heaviness” in his pitching elbow. He spoke after the game and things don’t look great… but he’ll get imaging today or tomorrow to determine next steps.
Tomoyuki Sugano is a legend in Japan. He had success over the last decade but came stateside because he didn’t want to have any regrets in the latter part of his career. Patrick Saunders also asked Ryan Spilborghs about Sugano, who Spilly described as “the equivalent of someone like Max Scherzer, Clayton Kershaw, or Justin Verlander going to Japan after their elite run in the majors.” So far, Sugano is one of the Rockies’ best pitchers, with a 4-3 record and 3.86 ERA in 10 starts.
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