Rockies name Dustin Garneau as new bullpen coach

Dustin Garneau he has a new job with the Rockies. After spending the last two seasons as the organization’s catching and game planning coordinator, he will take over as bullpen coach in 2025. The team announced the news Thursday.

The Rockies selected Garneau with the 571st overall pick in the 2009 draft. After five years in the club’s minor league system, he made his MLB debut at Coors Field in 2015. Over the next eight seasons, Garneau caught for Rockies, Athletics, White Sox, Angels, Astros and Tigers, playing a total of 168. big league games. he announced his decision to retire following the 2022 season.

During his playing career, Garneau appeared in far more games for the Rockies than any other team: 68 contests over parts of three seasons from 2015-17. He even returned to Colorado on a minor league deal in his penultimate season, though he was traded less than a month later and never played another game with the big league club. After shutting down his trapping gear, it wasn’t long before he was back in the Rockies. Indeed, the organization was so excited to bring him back that they created the catching and game planning coordinator position (specifically the “game planning” part) just for him (per Jack Etkin of the Rockies blog).

While Garneau wasn’t a pitcher himself, the Rockies have to believe his experience handling pitchers and calling plays will help him succeed as a bullpen coach. He will replace veteran bullpen coach Reid Cornelius, who was let go at the end of the season. The team also parted ways with assistant hitting coach PJ Pilittere earlier this month, though it’s unclear if they plan to replace him. With hitting coach Hensley Meulens and assistant hitting coach Andy González still in the organization, the Rockies don’t necessarily need to add another assistant hitting coach to the staff.