One of the most surprising stories of 2026 was the rise of Rockies prospect Jack O’Dowd (HM PuRP).
Originally undrafted out of the University of Texas, O’Dowd played a year of independent ball with the Billings Mustangs before signing with the Colorado Rockies in the 2026 offseason. Since then, he has torn through the minors — playing in three of the four full-season leagues in just one year. And to cap it off, he was selected to the Arizona Fall League after just one season in affiliated baseball.
“It was a lot,” O’Dowd said of the travel.
“I had to ship my truck twice, so that was a lot. Our affiliates are so spread out that getting from Fresno to Spokane and then Spokane all the way out to Hartford, it was a lot of travel. Adjusting to time zones was different, and then just adjusting to different leagues and the travel in every league is different, and the personalities of each team is a little different, and each staff is a little different.
“But it was really cool,” he continued.
“It felt like every time I moved up a level, it was like Opening Day again. I got a fresh, clean start, and it felt like I had to prove myself again and again, so that was really cool and almost refreshing in a way. For how long the season is, it kind of broke it up for me to where, ‘All right, today it’s Opening Day again. It’s my first game in Spokane or my first game in Hartford.’ So that was fun as well.”
Luckily for O’Dowd, though, he had a lot of college teammates throughout the system that he was able to lean on — Max Belyeu (No. 23 PuRP) and Jebarron Johnson Jr. in Spokane, Skyler Messinger and Mike Antico in Hartford, and Jared Thomas (No. 8 PuRP) towards the end of the season and in the AFL.
“Those built-in relationships helped a lot, and it ended up allowing me to get comfortable a lot quicker in those environments, which is nice,” he said.
“But also just being myself and just trying to be the same person everyday – be a great teammate and try to make everyone around me better, too. I feel like that helped me to get the respect of guys on the team quicker, and ultimately makes performing on the field a little bit easier.”
Even though the travel and adjustments were challenging for O’Dowd, he found a silver lining.
“Honestly, I think that the highlight of [my season] was just getting to play with so many guys inside of the org,” he said. “I mean, getting to play with three different teams, I got to play with almost every single guy inside the Rockies org, and that’s really cool and pretty unique. So I feel like I got to create relationships along the way that, when spring training comes around and then in future years, it’ll be great to know guys on such a personal level. So that was probably the coolest part of it.”
In addition to transitioning to affiliated baseball and traveling all over the country, O’Dowd has also taken on another new challenge: converting from an infielder to a catcher. This is not the first time the Rockies have done this (see: Tony Wolters and Dom Nuñez).
O’Dowd is embracing the challenge.
“I’ve really enjoyed it so far. It’s been a fun transition,” he said. “I think that a lot of my work here in the Fall League is focused around trying to improve all those different areas that I need behind the plate. But I think, as a whole, my skillset just fits the catching position really well. My instincts, my knowledge of the game can really serve me well back there. And then I think catching is a position where you always need catchers, especially left-handed hitting catchers, so I think if I can get myself to the point where they trust me behind the plate, and I can do everything I need to do, then I think that opens up a lot of opportunity on the field for me, which is exciting.
“It’s a hard position to learn, but it’s really fun because there’s so much that goes into it,” he continued. “And I love the game. I love to study the game, so it gives me a whole new perspective on it, for sure. So I’ve enjoyed it a lot, and I’ve enjoyed the Fall League a lot to get back there and get time to really focus on the mechanics of catching and trying to improve on all that.”
He actually started that transition in Billings, where he gained confidence behind and in front of the plate.
“I think Billings was kind of a good stepping stone for me coming off a senior year in college where I struggled and just couldn’t string together good performances,” he recalled.
“I needed something to allow me to find the potential that was there that I was just struggling to get out, and eventually Billings is kind of what gave me the platform to do that. And I think my game started to come together there, and I got more confidence and learned the catching position originally there, and then really started to find my swing there. So I think Billings allowed me to gain some momentum that I was able to take into this past season.”
Overall, O’Dowd learned some valuable lessons in 2026 that he’s taking with him, and he is looking forward to the opportunities that the Fall League offers.
“I think trying to improve catching-wise, just continue to get the reps back there and continue to get better. That would be one of my main focuses – continuing to try and address some of the areas offensively that I need to get better at,” he said.
“And then also just picking the brains of all these coaches and guys on my team from other orgs is really exciting, and I feel like it gives me an opportunity to take things from them and what they teach and try to apply them to my game. That’s a great part about the Fall League, for sure.”
So far, O’Dowd has seen action in four of the Rafters’ AFL games — one as a DH, one as a first baseman, and two as a catcher — and is slashing .267/.267/.333 with one double and two RBI.
It runs until November 14th, so O’Dowd (and the other Rockies prospects) will see plenty of action over the next five weeks.
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