Rockies add Meulens as hitting coach to bolster offense

DENVER (AP) — The Colorado Rockies have brought in Hensley Meulens to serve as hitting coach after back-to-back subpar seasons at the plate.

Meulens was an assistant hitting coach for the New York Yankees in 2022. He will be counted on to revamp a Rockies lineup that hit .254 last season, the second-lowest mark behind only the 2021 squad (.249). Meulens takes over for Dave Magadan.

In addition, the Rockies announced Monday they added Warren Schaeffer to the coaching staff as the third base/infield coach. Schaeffer served as the manager of the Triple-A Albuquerque Isotopes from 2020-22, along with being the team’s third-base coach and infield instructor. Schaeffer steps in for Stu Cole.

“They (Meulens and Schaeffer) both bring their own unique set of skills and experiences to our club and they could not be more respected throughout both our organization and across all of baseball," Rockies manager Bud Black said in a statement.

Colorado is bringing back for the 2023 season bench coach Mike Redmond, pitching coach Darryl Scott, first-base coach Ron Gideon and bullpen coach Reid Cornelius, along with assistant hitting coaches Andy González and P.J. Pilittere.

Meulens was part of the San Francisco Giants when they won three World Series titles, serving as hitting coach (2010-17) and bench coach (2018-19). He became the bench coach for the New York Mets in 2020.

The 55-year-old Meulens spent parts of seven seasons in the majors, including stints with the Yankees (1989-93), Montreal (1997) and Arizona (1998). The outfielder/infielder from Curacao also played for the Chiba Lotte Marines and Yakult Swallows of Nippon Professional Baseball.

Colorado finished the 2022 season with a .398 slugging percentage, marking the first time they've been below the .400 mark.

The Rockies wound up 43 games behind the NL West-winning Los Angeles Dodgers.

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