PHOENIX — The Colorado Rockies made Bill Schmidt their permanent general manager Saturday, promoting him from the interim GM role he had held since May.
The Rockies were 74-85 when they made the announcement before playing at Arizona.
“After five months, it became increasingly clear that Bill was the right person to lead this franchise forward,” team president and chief operating officer Greg Feasel said. “He came into a challenging situation and quickly impacted the play on and off the field.”
The Rockies began the year in turmoil, having traded franchise star Nolan Arenado to St. Louis in the offseason, and were 9-17 after April.
Colorado hasn’t had a losing month since May and is .500 since the All-Star break. While still a distant fourth in the National League West, the Rockies are only 3½ games behind the once-contending San Diego Padres in the division.
“The past five months have been important, and we want our fans to know that our baseball operations team is bringing a fresh perspective, approach and energy,” Schmidt said.
The Rockies also said they are promoting Danny Montgomery to vice president/assistant general manager of scouting and Zack Rosenthal to VP/assistant GM of baseball operations and assistant general counsel.
Schmidt has been with the Rockies since 1999, when he was hired from the Cleveland Indians to head the scouting department. He replaced Jeff Bridich, who resigned as the team’s general manager in late April.