The Rockies announced their full coaching staff this evening. The majority of Warren Schaeffer’s group had previously been reported, but Colorado’s hiring of first base coach Doug Bernier is a new development. Thomas Harding of MLB.com reported the hire shortly before the club finalized it.
Bernier had a brief run as a big league infielder, which began with four games with the Rox in 2008. He also played parts of three seasons with the Twins but was primarily an organizational depth player. While Bernier’s MLB career consisted of 46 games, he made exactly 1000 appearances at the Triple-A level over 11 seasons. Bernier ended his playing career after the 2017 season and jumped into scouting with the Rockies a year later.
The 45-year-old has been employed by Colorado for the past eight seasons. Bernier worked as a bridge between the coaching staff and analytics department as game planning coordinator from 2020-21. He worked as a defensive instructor for two seasons and has spent the last couple years as a minor league field coordinator.
Ron Gideon had been Colorado’s first base coach for the past seven seasons. The Rox announced last month that he was assuming the newly created role of assistant bench coach in 2026. Colorado had already announced that third base coach Andy González would be back in his previous role. Assistant hitting coach Jordan Pacheco is also returning. Bench coach Jeff Pickler, hitting coach Brett Pill, pitching coach Alon Leichman, assistant pitching coach Gabe Ribas, and bullpen coach Matt Buschmann are entering their first seasons with the club.