Weiss Ready for Step-up

There were not many fans betting on baseball that had money on Walt Weiss being handed the job as manager of the Colorado Rockies, and there will be no doubting the former high school coach will be under the spotlight to prove himself in the majors.

Weiss has been tasked with turning around the fortunes of a squad that is coming off the back of a franchise-worst 64-98 season, which ultimately led to Jim Tracy’s departure.

Weiss, who spent three years with the Rockies as a player, makes the extremely rare jump from high school coach to major league manager, returning to Colorado where he is still held in high esteem for his time at the club as a determined shortstop.

While the Monfort brothers have backed the 48-year old to transform the team’s fortunes, Weiss has only been handed a one-year deal in which to achieve the task, perhaps proving the Rockies owners are still weighing up their long-term options.

Playing down the significance of his contract length, Weiss admitted he was fully aware that his appointment had been met with plenty of cynicism from some areas but vowed to do all he could to improve the Rockies’ MLB scores.

“There is no question the pink elephant in the room is I haven’t done this before. This is a job that I’m going to have to figure out on the fly.”

“If you don’t do the job, you’re gone. I have to do the job. I have to get a club to play hard and play the game right. That is all I’m focused on. I could care less about the terms of my contract, to be honest,” insisted Weiss.