ORLANDO, Fla. — Is the piggyback making a comeback? Not necessarily, but the Rockies’ new leaders are changing the club’s pitching philosophy, strategy and teaching.
Tuesday night at the winter meetings, the club announced its pitching staff: Alon Leichman as pitching coach, Gabe Ribas as assistant pitching coach, Matt Buschmann as bullpen coach, and Matt Daniels as director of pitching.
Manager Warren Schaeffer gushed about the new hires.
“In terms of Rockies history, this is one of the most exciting moments for us,” he said. “Four guys have been brought in who are game-changers and have a good feel for the game. They know ‘tech,’ know the analytics, and know how to give guys new arsenals and know how to deal with pitch shapes. The whole gamut.”
Earlier in the day, new general manager Josh Byrnes was asked if the club was “reimagining” its pitching strategy. He replied, “Very much so. Reimaging it and just thinking, what might work, what might not work. Some of it runs across any ballpark, and some of it is specific to Coors (Field).
“There is the home-road aspect (to this), the touch and feel, and recovery — all of that. Reimagine is a good word, and that’s probably the road we are on.”
Whether that road leads to something like the paired-pitching (“piggyback”) system Colorado used for part of the 2012 season remains to be seen. But clearly, an improved rotation is a critical step to lift the Rockies out of their doldrums.
In 2025, en route to a 119-loss season, Colorado’s rotation posted a 6.65 ERA, the worst for a starting staff since ERA became an official stat in 1913. Lefty Kyle Freeland and right-hander Ryan Feltner (coming back from injuries) are the only two established pitchers who appear to be locks for the rotation in 2026. After that, there are many questions, including how radical the Rockies will be in solving their dilemma.
“Part of the reason we are so excited about this group is that they are all very creative and very open-minded,” new team president Paul DePodesta said shortly after the Rockies announced their pitching staff. “We kicked around a lot of ideas during this process that we would like to explore further.
“I can’t say exactly where it’s going to end up, as of today, but I think we are going to be looking at a lot of different things. There was one thing that (Leichman) asked me in particular. He said, ‘Is this on the table?’ I said, “Absolutely.’ ”
Last season, Schaeffer said he was interested in using an “opener” to start games, but said he didn’t think the Rockies had the pitching personnel to make it work. The Rockies only used an opener in just one game, on June 6, when lefty Ryan Rolison started for struggling right-hander Antonio Senzatela vs. the Mets.
But there is a new attitude and a new staff. Nothing is off the table.
Schaeffer called Leichman “top notch,” adding, “I think you would be hard-pressed to find a better pitching coach.” Leichman served as assistant pitching coach for Miami last season and held the same post with the Reds the two previous years.
Late last season, Marlins pitching coach Daniel Moskos and Leichman called pitches from the dugout. Whether or not the Rockies will go in that direction remains to be seen, though Schaffer has said he’s open to some experimentation.
“Like Paul (DePodesta) said, anything is on the table,” Schaeffer said. “We are going to be creative. How creative we get initially, we’ll see.”
In June 2012, the Rockies got ultra creative, but it didn’t work out. Former general manager Dan O’Dowd, looking for ways to solve the Rockies’ chronic pitching woes in Denver’s mile-high altitude, introduced Project 5183 — so named within the executive offices at Coors Field in honor of the ballpark’s base elevation.
The headline-grabbing part of the plan was instituting a “paired pitching system” featuring four starters working on a 75-pitch limit and four “piggyback” relievers.
“We felt like the greatest risk to take right now was no risk at all,” O’Dowd told season-ticket holders on a conference call that summer. “If we were going to do something, do something bold because nothing is ever rewarded if you are going to try to do something that is meek.”
The idea of using a nontraditional approach first surfaced among Rockies officials in 2002. Former Triple-A pitching coach Bob McClure talked of creating a “wolf pack” pitching staff, using a convoy of relievers to ease the burden on starters and address the impact of pitching at altitude.
In 2012, manager Jim Tracy was never comfortable with the idea of “paired pitching,” and it showed as he struggled to articulate the plan from the outset. Several starting pitchers bristled at the system. The Rockies went back to a five-man rotation on Aug. 21 when Jhoulys Chacin returned from the disabled list.
Part of the problem with the piggyback system was that the National League did not have a designated hitter in 2012, which made the set pitching system unwieldy. Plus, pitchers were used to “owning” their starts and hated the idea of getting a mandatory hook on days when they were pitching well.
But baseball has changed a lot in the past 13 years. Multiple teams have used openers, bullpen-pitched games, and shortened innings by starters. Plus, the rise of analytics has changed the game forever.
But one thing has remained constant about baseball in Colorado: Altitude makes it a different ballgame. But DePodesta is confident his new pitching gurus are eager for the challenge.
“They are all really excited about tackling altitude,” he said. “They had some different theories, and we talked through different things, about pitch shapes, arsenals, recovering, and the different things that might work. They all had really interesting takes on it.”
Rockies pitching planners
The Rockies announced their new pitching staff on Tuesday. Following is a snapshot look at the four hires:
Alon Leichman, pitching coach: Comes to Colorado from the Marlins, where he spent the 2025 season as the assistant pitching coach and assistant pitching director after spending two years with the Cincinnati Reds (2023-24) in the same role. Before his time with Cincinnati, Leichman spent six years in Seattle’s organization as a pitching coach at various levels.
Gabe Ribas, assistant pitching coach: Spent the past five seasons as the Tigers’ director of pitching after being hired in 2021. Before his time in Detroit, he spent four seasons as a pitching coordinator in the Dodgers’ system, where he worked across many areas within player development, including coaching staffs, performance science, strength and conditioning and baseball analytics.
Matt Buschmann, bullpen coach: Spent the past two seasons as a special adviser of player development in the Cubs’ system. Before going to Chicago, he served as the Blue Jays’ bullpen coach from 2019-22, where he also took on the role of director of pitching development before the 2020 season.
Matt Daniels, director of pitching: Spent the past three seasons as the pitching development and acquisitions specialist for the Twins. Daniels also spent four seasons in San Francisco as the Giants’ coordinator of pitching sciences, a role he was first hired for in 2019. He joined the Giants from Driveline Baseball, a data-driven player development facility based in Seattle, where he was one of the company’s first full-time employees.
— Patrick Saunders, The Denver Post
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