Darryl Scott will not return as the Rockies pitching coach in 2026, according to Thomas Harding of MLB.com. Scott had brief stints in Colorado’s minor league system in 1995 and 2000 before rejoining the organization in 2009 as a minor league coach. He has since served in various roles with the Rockies, including serving as pitching coach for the team’s four minor league affiliates.
Prior to the 2020 season, the Rockies promoted Scott, then minor league pitching coordinator, to the major league coaching staff. He took over as bullpen coach from Darren Holmes and held the position for two seasons. In October 2021, he was promoted to pitching coach, replacing Steve Foster.
In Scott’s four seasons, Rockies pitchers had the third-worst adjusted ERA- in the majors, trailing only the Athletics and Nationals. Even accounting for park factors, their ERA has been more than 10% higher than the league average each of the last four years. They ranked 30th out of 30 teams in strikeout rate every year during Scott’s tenure as pitching coach, and they didn’t limit walks or hard contact to make up for all the batters who failed to strike out.
Scott cannot be blamed for all or even most of the team’s pitching woes. Now-ousted general manager Bill Schmidt didn’t appear to be giving him a ton of talent to work with. Not to mention, coaching at the high altitude of Coors Field is an unenviable task for even the most ambitious pitching guru. Still, it doesn’t bode well for Scott that Colorado’s pitching seems to be getting worse each season under his watch. Several of the team’s pitchers have regressed in recent years, with few reaching their full potential.
As a result, the Rockies will add “pitching coach” to their list of offseason needs, although hiring new front-office leaders and deciding whether interim head coach Warren Schaeffer will stay next season are high on the to-do list. By then, Scott might not even be the only coach the Rockies need to replace this winter. If their new executive wants a new manager, it’s likely their new manager will decide to overhaul the coaching staff and hire his own staff.
