Welcome to the 2026 edition of Ranking the Rockies, where we take a look back at every player to log playing time for the Rockies in 2026. The purpose of this list is to provide a snapshot of the player in context. The “Ranking” is an organizing principle that’s drawn from Baseball Reference’s WAR (rWAR). It’s not something the staff debated. We’ll begin with the player with the lowest rWAR and end up with the player with the highest.
No. 52, Edouard Julien (-1.0 rWAR)
The modus operandi for the new front office of the Colorado Rockies
entering the 2026 season was to raise the talent level and improve contact abilities. The free-swinging nature of the Rockies’ lineups of the past was an issue that the new leaders were hoping to rectify.
The Rockies made two trades near the end of January that seemed to focus on this goal and then some. One of those trades brought over TJ Rumfield from the New York Yankees, while the other brought back pitcher Pierson Ohl and infielder Edouard Julien from the Minnesota Twins. Ohl ended up as a non-factor in 2026 because of Tommy John surgery, but Julien spent significant time with the big-league club.
A strong start but a sharp decline
Julien’s time in Minnesota was disappointing. After a strong rookie campaign in 2023, Julien’s production declined rapidly over the next two seasons at the plate. Sure, he played well enough in Triple-A, but with other rising talent options for the Twins and his lack of minor league options, he became expendable for the Twins.
The Rockies hoped Julien’s elite contact and on-base skills could rebound and translate to a change of scenery, while providing defensive versatility at two open positions: first base and second base. The 27-year-old made a strong first impression in spring training, slashing .300/.417/.533 in 30 at-bats with 10 strikeouts and six walks over 11 games. It was certainly better than his .158/.304/.211 slash line during the World Baseball Classic with Team Canada, where he still drew four walks against eight strikeouts.
The trade appeared to be even more of a steal as Julien took off in April. By the end of the first month of the season, he was slashing .304/.396/.443 with two home runs and 12 RBI in 91 plate appearances over 27 games. Notably, Julien was doing quite well out of the leadoff spot, and it looked like the Rockies had found a quality option to get on base and get the offense started.
Then the wheels fell off.
Julien hit just .083 in May, going 5-for-61 while making 16 starts. He endured a 12-game hitless streak from May 10 to May 27, going 0-for-34 with 12 strikeouts and two walks. As he struggled, he was moved toward the bottom of the lineup as Jake McCarthy started to really take off.
He rebounded nicely in June, however, slashing .288/.422/.365 and showing off the plate discipline that made him intriguing in the first place. In 64 plate appearances, he drew 12 walks while striking out just 15 times. Unfortunately, he declined sharply again in July, going 5-for-38 across 14 games.
He played just three games in August, going hitless and drawing four walks, before he was designated for assignment and outrighted to Triple-A Albuquerque, where he finished out the season batting .263/.394/.375 with 20 strikeouts against 16 walks in 99 plate appearances. As for his line with the Rockies, Julien batted .208/.322/.292 in 88 games.
The good and the bad at the plate
Up until getting sent to Triple-A, Julien was a regular piece for the Rockies. He and Willi Castro split the majority of the time at second base as Castro bounced around the diamond at multiple positions.
The reason that Julien got so much playing time was that the on-base factor was so important for the Rockies. His 14.1% walk rate was the highest it had been since the 15.7% he recorded in 2023, and his 25.7% strikeout rate was the lowest of his career. Despite playing in just 88 games, Julien’s 39 walks were the fifth-most on the team this season.
He was also making more contact than he ever had before, at a rate of 78.0%. On pitches inside the strike zone, Julien had an 86.3% contact rate on a 62.5% swing rate. However, it also meant that he was making a lot of contact on pitches outside of the strike zone, with a 49.5% contact rate on an 18.6% swing rate. The ability to control the zone and exhibit elite discipline is what the Rockies hoped he could do on the regular, and they saw the impact it could have in two separate months. Unfortunately, the wild swings in the opposite direction showed that the contact didn’t always yield results.
Julien has been a groundball machine during his career with a 48.6% groundball rate. In 2026, Julien posted a career-high 50.3% groundball rate. Despite a career-high hard-hit rate of 49.7%, Julien just wasn’t finding results. See, he was elite at making contact on a lot of pitches, but that accounted for a lot of foul balls and weak balls put into play. When he would smoke a ball, it was on the ground half the time and playable for opposing defenses.
He also didn’t benefit much from the platoon system facing right-handed pitching, batting .214/.324/.307 in 84 games.
Julien definitely has the potential for more power in his bat; he hit 16 home runs during his rookie campaign, after all, but he couldn’t tap into that with the Rockies. Of the 49 hits he had this season, he had just nine doubles, a triple, and three home runs.
Offensively, the potential was there for Julien to thrive, especially looking at his Baseball Savant batting metrics, but the reality is that he just couldn’t take his game to the next level like a lot of other players were able to do this season at the plate. It feels as though his offensive stats are hollow outside of being able to draw walks and sometimes get a groundball single.
Defensive woes
As for the defensive side of things, that’s where Julien’s struggles really came to light. Initially, it was believed he would be a main option to man first base before Rumfield made that position his own. The Rockies were also committed to using Castro everywhere they could, particularly at third base and shortstop, to spot struggling players. That left second base primed for Julien to play the majority of his time there.
Unfortunately, it was not a pretty sight most of the time.
There were concerns about Julien’s defense in Minnesota and that is why he got bumped from spots multiple times. He didn’t do much to dispel those concerns in Colorado. In 467.1 innings at second base, Julien recorded -7 Defensive Runs Saved and was worth -4 Outs Above Average and -3 Fielding Run Value.
He could still throw out some highlight-reel plays here and there, but Julien’s defensive tenure at second base was not a pretty sight. His range and arm were not good, and there was a reason that his defensive playing time diminished as Kyle Karros solidified third base, allowing Castro to play at second base more regularly, and Julien served as the designated hitter and pinch hitter more often.
Au revoir?
The intentions behind the acquisition of Edouard Julien were well placed by the Rockies this season. Having a player capable of controlling the strike zone and drawing walks is something that will work for the crew at 20th and Blake. For brief moments, Julien did a great job showcasing that idea.
Unfortunately, his entire batting profile and lack of a defensive home made it more difficult to justify him staying around as the season entered the final stretch. Rumfield also ended up exhibiting the approach so much better over the course of the season as well.
In all likelihood, Julien will be made a free agent when the offseason begins. There is a world where you keep him on as a minor league depth piece, but ultimately he doesn’t bring enough to the table to justify keeping him around. Hopefully he can find an opportunity elsewhere, because there is some sort of potential, but the best thing he did for Colorado was show what a disciplined approach can do for a ball club.
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