From staff, AP reports
DENVER — Colorado Rockies hitting coach Alan Cockrell, former standout at Joplin Parkwood High School, will not be offered a contract for next season.
The team announced Tuesday that third-base coach Mike Gallego and bench coach Jamie Quirk also were not offered contracts. Quirk has been manager Clint Hurdle’s bench coach since 2003, and Gallego was hired before the 2005 season.
Bullpen coach Rick Matthews, who has been with the organization throughout its 17-year existence, will be assigned to a role to be determined later. He has been bullpen coach since 2003 and also served seven years as pitching coordinator.
Pitching coach Bob Apodaca and first-base coach Glenallen Hill will return on manager Hurdle’s staff.
Cockrell was with the Rockies’ organization the last 11 seasons, including two stints as hitting coach. He was hitting coach the final five months of the 2002 season after Hurdle was promoted to manager. He served as hitting coach at Triple-A Colorado Springs from 2003-06 before rejoining the big-league staff in 2007.
The Rockies led the National League with a .280 team batting average in 2007 when they won the National League pennant and lost to the Boston Red Sox in the World Series.
The Rockies’ average dropped to .263, which ranked sixth in the NL. The St. Louis Cardinals led the league at .281.
Cockrell, a football and basketball standout at Parkwood from 1978-81, earned All-America honors in both sports at Tennessee.
Cockrell, picked No. 9 overall by the San Francisco Giants in the 1984 June draft, spent 13 seasons as a minor league outfielder. His one month in the major leagues came in September 1996 with the Rockies. His first hit was a double off Atlanta left-hander Tom Glavine on Sept. 10.
