Saturday, October 31

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Left-hander Konner Eaton, the Rockies No. 17 prospect, arrived for Arizona Fall League play with a student’s mentality.

“My goal is to come out here with open ears, bounce ideas off other guys’ heads -- especially some of the coaches here,” said Eaton, a sixth-round pick in 2024 from George Mason University who turns 24 on Nov. 30.

Call Eaton a quick study.

Eaton, who spent the Minor League season with a Double-A Hartford team (5-3, 4.46 ERA in 23 starts) that went to the Eastern League playoffs, has pitched nine innings over five appearances (1 start) without giving up an earned run (2 unearned runs) for the Salt River Rafters in AFL play. Eaton has six strikeouts against two walks. His latest outing was two scoreless innings with three strikeouts to one walk in the team’s 21-5 loss to Mesa on Thursday.

What Eaton is applying on the mound is more important than his glowing stats.

“There are several layers to it, but primarily we’ve made some adjustments to his daily catch-play routine to continue to gain awareness of where his body is in space,” Rockies director of pitching Matt Daniels said. “He has a large amount of range of motion, and that particular trait can take a longer time to gain full control of. The thought is better control of moving parts in space, the higher likelihood of throwing more strikes.”

During the regular season, Eaton struck out 103 in 107 innings, but also walked 61. In addition to improving his strike-throwing, Eaton wanted to show stamina over a longer season, since he hopes to make his Major League debut in 2027 -- even though he doesn’t have to be protected on the 40-man roster until after the season.

The year at Hartford presented difficulties.

“I had a great start to the year and maintained that through the middle of the season, but I had some family issues back home,” said Eaton, who added that things are better. “I was able to get back home for a couple of days, then everything started to spiral a little bit. It was a big learning opportunity to be able to deal with adversity. And I bounced back from a little rotator cuff strain, so a lot of ups and downs.”

Eaton earned the Rockies’ Rick Matthews Minor League Pitcher of the Year Award in 2025 (149 strikeouts to 52 walks in 140 innings at High-A Spokane and Hartford) while throwing a fastball, slider and changeup. This year, he added a cutter, a sinker and a sweeper, the last of which he curtailed during Hartford season but wants to finish developing.

Key Fall League adjustments, Daniels said, are a slight change to the changeup grip and throwing the slider harder with and with less break. The goal is to turn Eaton into a much-needed starting rotation option.

“Left-handed starting pitching is at a premium, so we take pride in developing that,” said Jerry Sullivan, who is a Rafters’ pitching coach after holding the same role with Hartford. “With Konner, it’s a little bit of a fast track.

“We’re getting him work out of the bullpen in the Fall League with a command focus. When we move guys quickly with that kind of an arsenal, there’s always a grace period when it comes to command. For us, it’s making sure he has the pitches to compete at the big league level while maintaining our core beliefs -- being able to attack the strike zone without running up many walks.”

Longtime organizational figure Clint Hurdle announced Friday that he is parting ways with the organization, although he said he is not retiring from the game. Hurdle -- who is also busy as an author and public speaker -- served the Rockies 1994-2009 and 2022-26 in many roles, most notably as manager of the 2007 team that went to the World Series.

The impact of Hurdle, with a big personality, booming voice and a spirit he enjoys sharing, is difficult to encapsulate. A synopsis of how Hurdle grew into an effective manager, but maintained perspective on life, shows up as part of a 2020 story.

Navigating a club growing into its success did not get in the way of him serving as inspiration to Kyle Blakeman, a 15-year-old sophomore who was fighting a cancer that took his life. When the team entered a struggle period, Hurdle began jotting a small “64” -- Blakeman’s high school football number -- at the bottom of the daily lineup card.

Read the background here.

It’s hard to find a Rockies player who was not touched by Ron Gideon, who spent last season as assistant bench coach. Gideon was on the Major League staff for 10 seasons, and was with the organization in various Major and Minor League roles for 31 years.

“Relationships are the biggest thing -- bigger than teaching the game,” Gideon said. “I was taught that early on when I became a coach. My dad was a high school football coach in Hallsville, Texas, and he taught me the same thing -- you have to be on the same page as your players, in a friendly, genuine way.”

Gideon, who will spend time with his wife, Kim, their children and grandchildren, said patience will pay for the Rockies.

“That’s going to take time,” Gideon said. “I imagine everybody gets tired of hearing that, but we have young guys here. There has been a change in the front office, and they have a different direction, so we’ve got to get it turned around. We have to get this thing back to playing the game -- not on an individual basis but a team basis. That’s a really big thing that manager Warren Schaeffer is preaching.”

From the hiring of Paul DePodesta as president of baseball operations last November through the 2026 season, the Rockies dramatically increased its investments in scouting, player development and information gathering and implementation and promised an “equal if not greater” investment this offseason. Some of the early promotions are starting to surface as the club continues its internal restructure.

In a move that was known but announced officially on X by director of pitching Matt Daniels, Owen Cuffe was promoted from a role at the team’s complex in Scottsdale to assistant director of pitching. Cuffe, a former pitcher at Abilene Christian University, had been a pitching strategist and director of pitching development and recruiting at the University of Arizona before joining the Rockies in 2026.

The Rockies also promoted Michael McClellan, PhD., to director of baseball analytics. Before joining the Rockies during the 2026 season, McClellan spent nearly eight years with the Rays as a baseball research and development analyst and applied physicist in baseball R&D.

The team now seeks a head of high performance -- to lead athletic training, rehabilitation and reconditioning, strength and conditioning, mental skills, nutrition and performance science personnel -- among other positions.

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