Jeffrey Thomas Bridich ( ; born September 10, 1977) is a former American
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...
executive. He was the
general manager
A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...
of the
Colorado Rockies
The Colorado Rockies are an American professional baseball team based in Denver. The Rockies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The team plays its home baseball games at Coors Fie ...
of
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
from 2014 to 2021.
Biography
Bridich is from
Whitefish Bay
Whitefish Bay is a large bay on the eastern end of Lake Superior between Michigan, United States, and Ontario, Canada. It is located between Whitefish Point in Michigan and Whiskey Point along the more rugged, largely wilderness Canadian Shield o ...
in
Milwaukee County, Wisconsin
Milwaukee County is located in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. At the 2020 census, the population was 939,489, down from 947,735 in 2010. It is both the most populous and most densely populated county in Wisconsin, and the 45th most populous coun ...
.
He attended
Marquette University High School
Marquette University High School (MUHS) is a private, all-male, Jesuit, Roman Catholic school located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It is accredited by the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement (NCA CASI), an acc ...
, where he played for the school's
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...
and
American football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...
teams.
[ He enrolled at ]Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
, where he played college baseball
College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...
for the Harvard Crimson
The Harvard Crimson are the intercollegiate athletic teams of Harvard College. The school's teams compete in NCAA Division I. As of 2013, there were 42 Division I intercollegiate varsity sports teams for women and men at Harvard, more than at ...
. He began his tenure with the Crimson as a catcher
Catcher is a Baseball positions, position in baseball and softball. When a Batter (baseball), batter takes their at bat, turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home plate, home) Umpire (baseball), umpire, and recei ...
before playing as an outfielder
An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...
. He graduated from Harvard in 2000. After his graduation, Bridich worked as an intern
An internship is a period of work experience offered by an organization for a limited period of time. Once confined to medical graduates, internship is used practice for a wide range of placements in businesses, non-profit organizations and gover ...
in Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
's (MLB) executive office. He worked for MLB for four years, and helped lead the Arizona Fall League
The Arizona Fall League (AFL) is an off-season sports league owned and operated by Major League Baseball (MLB) which operates during the autumn in Arizona, United States, at six different baseball complexes. Arizona Fall League rosters are fill ...
.[
Bridich joined the Rockies' front office in December 2004, when he was hired to manage the team's Minor League Baseball operations. In October 2005, the Rockies promoted Bridich to succeed ]Thad Levine
Thad Levine (born November 12, 1971) is an American baseball executive. He is the senior VP and general manager for the Minnesota Twins of Major League Baseball.
Early life and education
Levine was born in Alexandria, Virginia. He played youth ...
as their director of baseball operations. He served as the Rockies' senior director of player development from 2011 through 2014. After the 2014 season, on October 8, Dan O'Dowd
Dan O'Dowd was the General Manager (baseball), General Manager of the Colorado Rockies from September 20, 1999 to October 8, 2014. Before being hired by the Rockies, he spent 15 years working for the Baltimore Orioles and Cleveland Indians, workin ...
, the Rockies' general manager, and Bill Geivett
William Paige Geivett (born July 25, 1963) is an American professional baseball player and executive.
Career
Geivett attended Sacramento City College and the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). Playing college baseball for the UCSB G ...
, the Rockies' director of major league operations, resigned. Bridich was appointed the team's new general manager to succeed them. The Rockies announced on April 26, 2021 that Bridich had stepped down as general manager.
Personal life
Bridich's father, Rick, also played college baseball for the Harvard Crimson.[ Rick coached Jeff's high school baseball team.] Jeff Bridich currently resides in Denver, Colorado
Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
, where he lives with his wife, Sarah. They have two children.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bridich, Jeff
1977 births
Living people
Colorado Rockies executives
Harvard Crimson baseball players
Sportspeople from Milwaukee
Major League Baseball general managers
Marquette University High School alumni