COLORADO ROCKIES NAME BILL SCHMIDT GENERAL MANAGER

Schmidt has served as the interim general manager since May 3

DENVER– The Colorado Rockies announced today that they have named Bill Schmidt as the club’s general manager, the fourth general manager in franchise history. Schmidt has served as the interim general manager since May 3 after previously leading the scouting department since 1999.

Additionally, the Rockies also announced today the promotion of Danny Montgomery to vice president and assistant general manager of scouting and have promoted Zack Rosenthal to vice president and assistant general manager of baseball operations and assistant general counsel.

“After five months as our interim general manager, it became increasingly clear that Bill was the right person to lead this franchise forward,” said Colorado Rockies President and Chief Operating Officer Greg Feasel. “We already knew Bill as a trusted and respected baseball professional within the game. He came into a challenging situation and quickly impacted the play on and off the field. Bill’s promotion also gives the organization an opportunity to promote two experienced individuals, Danny and Zack, to leadership roles that will be key in getting us to the next level.”

Schmidt has been with the Rockies since Oct, 1, 1999 when he began his direction of the scouting department, later being named the vice president of scouting in 2007. He joined the Rockies from the Cleveland Indians, where he served four seasons (1995-99) as a national crosschecker. Prior to his time with the Indians, Schmidt supervised the Southern California, Arizona and Nevada regions for the New York Yankees (1988-95), worked for the Major League Scouting Bureau (1987-88) and scouted for the Cincinnati Reds (1982-84). He also served as a coach in the Pioneer League for the Reds (1984) and Brewers (1986), and served as a coach for three seasons with the New York Yankees’ Penn League club (1991-93).

Recently, Schmidt has been honored as the West Coast Scout of the Year in 2019 at the Winter Meetings, and was one of six scouts to receive the Legends in Scouting Award at the Professional Baseball Scouts Foundation gala in January 2019.

“I am very honored to be named the general manager, and excited to get to work this offseason with Danny, Zack and the rest of our baseball operations team,” said Schmidt. “The past five months have been important for our club, and we want our fans to know that, as a group, our baseball operations team is bringing a fresh perspective, approach and energy in these roles. We’re going to work hard to deliver a consistent winning club to our fans.”

Montgomery was an original hire of the Rockies, joining the club in November 1991. He has spent the past seven seasons as a special assistant to the general manager, working closely with former General Manager Jeff Bridich and Schmidt as one of the key contributors in the annual First-Year Player Draft in June. Montgomery has served in a variety of scouting roles in his 30-plus years with the organization, most recently as the assistant director of scouting (2005-14), national crosschecker (2002-04), East Coast crosschecker (2000-02) and West Coast crosschecker (1998-99).

Rosenthal’s promotion to vice president comes after serving the past seven seasons as the assistant general manager of baseball operations and assistant general counsel. Rosenthal will continue to assist the general manager with contract matters, player transactions, payroll management, salary arbitration, statistical analysis, Major League roster oversight, rules administration, advanced scouting, and all legal matters involving the baseball operations department. Prior to his role as assistant general manager, Rosenthal spent five seasons as the director of baseball operations and assistant general counsel (2010-14) and four seasons as a baseball operations assistant and assistant general counsel (2006-09).

Mike Rice

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