Charlie Blackmon’s 14-year playing career ended when he announced his retirement back in September, but the Rockies franchise icon is sticking around for a new front office job. The Rox announced today that Blackmon has been named as a special assistant to general manager Bill Schmidt, and he “will assist in all areas of baseball operations,” as per the club’s press release.
The open-ended nature of Blackmon’s job description isn’t uncommon, as the special assistant role tends to vary from person to person and from organization to organization. In Colorado’s case, their list of special assistants includes three former players (Todd Helton, Vinny Castilla, and now Blackmon) and former manager Clint Hurdle, all sharing their expertise with Schmidt. While the Rockies are often accused of being an overly insular organization, it is worth noting that most teams routinely hire longtime former players for such special assistant jobs.
“Charlie has been an integral part of the Rockies organization for over a decade, both on and off the field,” Schmidt said in the press release. “His leadership, deep understanding of the game and passion for this franchise make him the perfect fit to step into this new role. We’re thrilled to have him bring his unique insight and experience back to the Rockies players and front office.”
A second-round pick for the Rockies in the 2008 draft, Blackmon spent his entire pro career with Colorado, and he ranks second to only Helton in most of the club’s all-time counting-stat categories. Blackmon finished his standout career with 227 homers and a .293/.353/.479 slash line across 6825 plate appearances, and his resume also includes four All-Star nods, two Silver Slugger Awards, and the 2017 NL batting title. That 2017 campaign was Blackmon’s greatest season, as he finished fifth in NL MVP voting while hitting .331/.399/.601 with 37 home runs, and helping the Rockies reach the playoffs via a wild card berth.
He’ll be advising the younger players on beard and hair care.
Blackmon without Coors Field is a .260 hitter with moderate power … very average.
Give Chuck a break, there is often a well known hangover effect after leaving Coors. It’s difficult for the players to adjust when leaving the elevation.
Everybody hits worse on the road. Your logic is lacking as is your intelligence.
While I agree most players don’t hit as well on the road, I know I read a very specific disadvantage Rockie hitters have on the road after a long homestand. I’m not trying to argue, I just remember reading it somewhere. Peace.
You cannot possibly prove that because Chuck never played for any other team. And don’t give me”road stats” as an answer because there is no such thing as a constant “road stats” for anyone. The “road stats” for the Rockies will ALWAYS be lower than everyone else because they are the only players that don’t include Coors Field stats in their “road stats.” That alone should explain part of the difference.
Giants fan here. Charlie Blackmon has been a true professional and damn good player. I hated when the Giants had to face him. Complete pest of a player to opposing teams and a great hunter to boot.
Pads fan here, 100% agree with mab51357. Charlie was a complete menace every time he played here, and that’s about the best compliment I could ever give.
*Hat tip*
And beard culture throughout the ages.
Hopefully that advice will include facing reality and making changes in how the organization moves forward to the Rockies being more than a great place to watch a game.
The same Rays that have made the playoffs 5 of the past 6 years?
Of course they could compete Dude. Their owner is a multi billionaire who is just too greedy and cheap and just sits back and watches fans continue to fill the park to watch an inferior product while getting people like you to whine about teams willing to spend rather than just making hundreds of millions in profits Dude.
Pink
Colorado spent more than Milwaukee, Baltimore, Kansas City, Cleveland and Detroit.
Expand league to 32 teams over next decade. Two eight team divisions in each league. Half of the teams in each league make the post-season. Two division winners and six wild cards. No byes, only home field advantage for a better record. Reduce regular season to 144 games. All playoff series are seven games. Better solution than a cap.
Yup it’s broken league top to bottom only rich teams enjoy . So rich teams blow by the CBT 150 million because they can . Players should get paid , owners should make profit but fans get screwed for 2/3 league .
“Tampa to even sniff a wildcard”…You, my friend, have apparently not been paying attention to the last several years of MLB.
Tampa makes the playoffs almost every year. It’s more of a story when they actually miss the playoffs, than when they make it.
You must be the type of person that’s never happy until your team mindlessly (over)spends and wastes money, which Tampa will never do.
That explains your insane animus and pure disrespect of the Tampa Rays.
MLB should implement something similar to NBA and NFL. The playing field is wayyyy more fair than MLB. Which is why Yankees and dodgers always have a winning record. It’s ridiculous honestly.
NBA players’ salaries are way out of whack too. NFL now getting the same way. But I do agree that it is completely ridiculous
MysteryWhiteBoy13
I’ll comment as a person with professional level scouting experience with the Rockies. Developing pitching there will ALWAYS be difficult. When they started in around 91 as an org (yes, I know the team debuted in 93)…the nucleus was made of former Expos scouting personnel. The Expos through the 80s and leading to 94 were a FANTASTIC development organization. I wss actually offered my first job with them in 1995. My roommate in West Palm would have been another young guy named Alex Anthouloupos. Those Expos people largely shifted to Colorado. This core eventually developed the teams with Ubaldo Jimenez and Jeff Francis…and the 2007 World Series.
But ownership is so meddling that it became very frustrating. Most core scouting dept people headed to Atlanta and are largely responsible for the Braves latest run.
In reality it’s just not a good place anymore. It’s hard to hire good people without empowering the baseball side to do their job effectively.
But Denver is an INCREDIBLY hard place to develop pitching. Ubaldo Jimenez is the prime example of how to win at elevation. High K rate and elite ground ball rate.
That OF is massive…the park is massive. At sea level it’d play as an extreme pitchers park. It’s not just the Homer’s. The park size increases the OF gap sizes too.
They had some of the best people in the game there…and it was still difficult.
Subject Matter Expert
Legend.
Hopefully he can get a haircut and shave the beard.
I do agree that it is weird to care about another’s look…however, your comment is far more off-putting and has no basis as a rational thought whatsoever. I would suggest you look inward and potentially strive to improve your own life. Thanks and have a great Saturday!
@d-rock2322,
A beard of that magnitude should be freely commented upon, plain and simple.
100% agree.
And grow a beard.
Reminder that “statman” is the same doofus who constantly posts those “…Fans! Both of them!” jokes on every A’s article
Even he can’t save this team
“Charlie Blackmon!! He’s here!! Charlie Blackmon!! Yes!! Charlie Blackmon!!”
“Never gets old…. Never.”
You’ve come far pilgrim? Feels like far. Were it worth the trouble? Huh? What trouble?
I think it’s awesome when a Player spends his entire career in 1 team, is successful, and then signs on for a role in player development in same team.
Respect to Charlie and the Rockies for this.
Charlie will assist them in not spending money, for any reason, ever. Especially on haircuts.
Whatever opinion you may have of the Rockies, you can’t deny their loyalty to their players and front office personnel.
Perhaps in the Rockies case, loyalty doesn’t come at a cost unlike $$$ does….
Cool, it will nice to see Charlie at Talking Stick for Spring Training.
The funniest thing I heard during Chuck’s retirement week interviews is that his wife and kids have never seen him clean shaven. In the back of your mind, you always have to be a little afraid of shaving it off just because you don’t know the reaction you will get from your loved ones.
Someone needs to send Mrs. Blackmon a 2011 Topps update Charlie Blackmon card because it might be the last picture of him clean shaven
Chuck Nasty will be head of the Rockies WWE division
I don’t really understand why this is a thing, especially so early after they retire. Shouldn’t u go prove yourself doing whatever this job is for a min? Is this some sort of back table deal to get folks to retire when they don’t want too?
Its a way to keep players around the game as a means of reward and transition. It’s very difficult sometimes for players people who have played the game their entire life to wake up and not have it. Its why divorce rates one year after retirement are VERY high. Its a loss of identity.
But on simpler terms. These are often basically organization ambassadors. I won’t call them PR titles. But guys can show up and work in spring training…go visit the minor leagues…anything.
Now, a special assistant to the GM might be a former player sent on a minor league scouting trip, etc.