With the worst record in Major League Baseball, the Colorado Rockies are making a change that they hope can provide a jolt to a lifeless offense.
Hitting coach Hensley Meulens was fired on Thursday and was replaced by former Rockies manager Clint Hurdle, who had been a special assistant to the general manager.
At 3-15, Colorado has the fourth-worst team batting average in the National League (.220) and third-worst team OPS (.629). The Rockies have the second-most strikeouts in MLB at 195, are tied for the second-fewest home runs with 12, and rank last in the majors with 52 runs scored.
Meulens was in his third year as Rockies hitting coach, hired before the 2023 season. Last season, the Rockies’ .242 team batting average and .704 OPS were the worst in franchise history.
Hurdle will serve as interim hitting coach for the remainder of the season, according to the team.
“This has been an incredibly frustrating and disappointing start to the season, especially offensively,” Rockies general manager Bill Schmidt said in a statement. “While all of us share responsibility, I felt a change was necessary, and that a new voice was needed to give us the best chance to perform as we move forward in the season.”
“Clint’s 30-plus years of baseball experience, especially over the past three-plus seasons working with our young players throughout the Minor Leagues, put him and our club in a place to be successful moving forward.”
Hurdle was the Rockies manager from 2002-09, taking over after Buddy Bell was fired. He managed Colorado to the 2007 World Series, which they lost in four games to the Boston Red Sox. In his eight seasons as manager, Hurdle compiled a 534-625 record.
Prior to being promoted to manager, Hurdle was the hitting coach on Colorado’s staff for five seasons, following three years as the organization’s minor league hitting instructor. He’s been a special assistant to Schmidt since 2022.
Meulens has been a coach at the major league level since 2010 with the San Francisco Giants and was the hitting coach for the Giants’ three World Series champions in 2010, 2012 and 2014. He had also been a bench coach for the New York Mets and assistant hitting coach for the New York Yankees before being hired by Colorado.
Additionally, Meulens was the subject of an FAA investigation one year ago for being in the cockpit of the team’s charter plane during a flight from Denver to Toronto.
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