SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. >> The Rockies were searching for a veteran, left-handed reliever all offseason. Wednesday, they finally landed their man.

The club signed 35-year-old Scott Alexander, a groundball-inducing pitcher with a track record of success at Coors Field, to a one-year, $2 million contract.

“I have said that if we had the opportunity to add a reliever, we would,” general manager Bill Schmidt said. “We are adding a veteran left-hander who gives us a veteran presence in our bullpen.”

Alexander, a fastball-slider pitcher, is scheduled to join his new team on Thursday.

To make room on their 40-man roster, the Rockies designated versatile infielder Aaron Schunk for assignment.

Alexander is coming off an impressive, albeit injury-shortened, season with the Athletics. He dealt with a ribcage injury to begin the season and then suffered tendinitis in his left rotator cuff in August. When healthy, he posted a 2.56 ERA over 38 2/3 innings. He’s adept at inducing groundballs and his 60% groundball was tied for 10th-best in the majors.

In 14 career games at Coors (12 1/3 innings), Alexander has a 1.46 ERA with a 0.730 WHIP, seven strikeouts and one walk. He’s yet to serve up a home run at Coors.

“His numbers at Coors are really good and he’s not afraid,” Schmidt said. “He’s pitched well in our ballpark. … And he’ll be useful in our division against left-handed hitters.”

Two Colorado lefty hitters know how effective Alexander can be. Charlie Blackmon, who retired at the end of last season, was 2 for 13 with one walk and two strikeouts vs. Alexander, while current third baseman Ryan McMahon is 1 for 10 with two walks and two strikeouts.

“He hides the ball really well and it’s never a comfy at-bat for a lefty,” McMahon said. “He’s added some pitches to his arsenal and his slider has gotten better. When he was with the Dodgers, we’d look at the chart and we knew the fastball was coming and we just couldn’t get it in the air.”

A sixth-round pick by the Royals in 2010, Alexander has pitched 309 1/3 major league innings for a 3.20 career ERA, 18% strikeout rate, 8.7% walk rate, and impressive 67.4% groundball rate.

Alexander has pitched for four organizations: Kansas City (2015-17), the Dodgers (2018-2021), San Francisco (2022-23) and Oakland (2024).

Schmidt said the Rockies plan to carry two or perhaps three lefties in their bullpen this season. He added that bringing on Alexander doesn’t preclude the Rockies from giving lefty prospect Carson Palmquist a chance to break camp with the big-league team.

Adding Alexander also gives injured left-hander Lucas Gilbreath more time to heal. Gilbreath, a graduate of Legacy High School, underwent Tommy John surgery in the spring of 2023. He attempted to return last season but was limited to three appearances because of left shoulder pain that wouldn’t go away.

As Gilbreath began preparing for the 2025 season, doctors finally discovered the source of his shoulder pain.

Then, they performed thoracic outlet surgery in his left neck-shoulder area on Oct. 30. They removed two muscles and did a procedure to relieve nerve pressure.

“We don’t need to rush Lucas, and we can make sure he’s 100% because he really hasn’t pitched in the last two years,” Schmidt said. “Let’s just try to be calm with him and let him (heal) at his rate rather than try and rush something.”