Forgotten former SF Giants first baseman is the new hitting coach for the Rockies

SF Giants fans could be forgiven for forgetting the name of Brett Pill who was a first baseman with the team from 2011 to 2013. He has resurfaced in major league baseball as the new hitting coach of the Colorado Rockies.

Pill was drafted by the Giants in 2006 and made his debut with the team in 2011. He hit a home run in his first at-bat with San Francisco and put up solid numbers in his rookie campaign as he slashed .300/.321/.560 with two home runs and nine runs driven in across 15 games.

Former SF Giants 1B Brett Pill hired as Rockies hitting coach

He actually played in 48 games in 2012 with the Giants and his numbers were not as great as he slashed .210/.265/.352 with four homers and 11 runs driven in. He didn't do a lot but he still got a World Series ring for his efforts.

Pill played in 48 games again in 2013 and slashed .224/.272/.376 with three homers and 12 RBI. After that season he went to the KBO where he played for a number of years before returning to the U.S. on a minor league contract with the Detroit Tigers in 2017. He did not make the big league club and retired following that season.

Pill has actually been with the Los Angeles Dodgers organization since 2020 and has served as a minor league hitting instructor with LA. The Rockies are hoping that he can help turn things around for one of the worst franchises in baseball so maybe he can provide a fresh approach that helps the lineup out.

The Rockies have really hit people with some unique blasts from the past this offseason. The decision to hire Paul DePodesta as president of baseball operations was a real throwback to the days of Moneyball and the hiring of Pill definitely provides some nostalgia for Giants fans.

It will at least be fun during Giants games against the Rockies next season to see the camera pan into Colorado's dugout so the broadcast team can point Pill out and share some old memories. You already know they will have that home run he hit in his first at-bat with the Giants ready to go.

One of the fun things about following a baseball team for a long time is the mental Rolodex one can amass of random and useless names in your brain that is just waiting to be activated. You can go a years without thinking about someone like Brett Pill, Mike Fontenot, or Joaquin Arias but then for some reason they pop in your head and you remember how many random Giants players are stored in your mind and how maybe that brain capacity could have been used for learning to play the guitar.

It will be interesting to see how Pill fares in this new role and is fun to see him return to the major leagues in this way.