Strike 3: The Colorado Rockies’ new decision-makers have already made this an offseason to remember.

First, the hiring of long time MLB and NFL exec Paul DePodesta to become the Vice President of Baseball Operations. Rockies followers met this hire with justifiable enthusiasm.

Then came the re-upping of interim manager Warren Schaeffer to the full time gig. Not so high on the applause meter… and for good reason. Not a good decision.

That was followed by the hiring of well-traveled and well-versed general manager Josh Byrnes; another move that met with the approval of Rockies followers everywhere.

But then, early this week at the Winter Meetings, the Rockies’ new front office made official the hire of former Miami Marlins assistant pitching coach Alon Leichman to become the team’s new major league pitching coach.

Head scratcher? Ya think?

If you haven’t heard of Leichman before, you’re not alone. Unlike 99% of big league pitching coaches, he’s not a former big leaguer…or a former minor leaguer for that matter. The 36-year-old Leichman played collegiately in California. He’s from Israel, and has been affiliated with that nation’s World Baseball Classic team as a player and a coach. He’s also coached in the Cincinnati Reds system.

As résumés go…it’s a little short.

It’s hard to have negative feelings about someone you’re hearing about for the first time. Perhaps he’s a brilliant coach and communicator who will do very well at Coors Field. We’ll see.

But taking the name out of the equation, the idea of hiring a 30-something for a job that may be the toughest in MLB is curious, to say the least.

With the 40-year-old Schaeffer as the manager, this situation cried out for the hiring of a savvy veteran pitching coach, someone who had been through the wars – maybe even at Coors Field – and come out the other side. Someone the pitchers could lean on for advice on how to handle a particular situation. Someone who had yes, been there, done that.

What’s Jorge de la Rosa doing these days?

Instead of an experienced veteran coach, the Rockies appear to be bringing on board a wet-behind-the-ears puppet. (And someone with absolutely zero idea about pitching at altitude.)

Baseball already has fallen into the analytics crevasse. Armed with more and better scouting information, execs are able to make better decisions on player acquisitions and roster building. That’s all fine. Sadly though, the nerdiness has gone even further than it did in “Moneyball.” Now analytics are being used to set lineups (without regard as to how a particular player is feeling that day) and soon, the numbers people parked in the basement of the ballpark are going to be calling the pitches.

Really.

This awful trend began at the high school level, where control-freak coaches have decided to call pitches for their young pitchers and catchers because of course, the kids can’t do that for themselves. It’s all the rage in college now, too. “Pitch Com” allows the coaches to call the pitches from the dugout.

At least most high school and college coaches are still calling pitches based on what they are seeing, not what the “trends” tell them to do.

The Marlins reportedly began calling pitches from the dugout late last season, with Leichman involved. This isn’t like it has been in the big leagues with Pitch Com, where the coaches/catcher send in a suggestion to the pitcher, who can then decide if that’s what he wants to throw. (In the not-so-old days a catcher would put down two fingers and the pitcher would shake his head “no” or nod “yes,” but that’s so 20th Century, right?)

What some (not all, I promise) coaches do in high school and college does not give the pitcher a choice in pitch selection. You throw what the coach tells you to throw, regardless.

Funny, last time we checked, the ball leaves the pitcher’s hand with his name on it, right? Not the catcher, not the coach. If it’s a bad pitch and gets hit over the fence, do they blame the catcher or the coach? Nope. The pitcher wears it. And the pitcher gets the “L.”

In order to be successful, the guy with the ball in his hand needs to be able to throw what he is comfortable throwing in a given situation. And you know what? That approach has worked for more than a century.

Apparently, it’s not going to work at Coors Field any longer. Apparently, this season, Leichman and Co. are going to tell Kyle Freeland what the nerds in the basement say he should throw on a 2-2 count in the bottom of the 5th with one runner on, the sun setting, the wind blowing from left to right and the temperature at 82 degrees. On a Tuesday.

Since the team’s new pitching coach has never been in that situation himself, he’ll just defer to the numbers people.

Perhaps since nothing else has worked in the past, DePodesta and Byrnes are ready to try anything, no matter how awful it is.