O'Dowd power surge turning heads in Fall League

This story was excerpted from Thomas Harding’s Rockies Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

SCOTTSDALE -- The Arizona Fall League figured out a way to stop Rockies catching prospect Jack O'Dowd on Friday -- by giving him and the Salt River Rafters a day off. He has been on fire when he has played.

O’Dowd, 25, has hit and reached safely in all but one of the 10 games he has played, and slashed .350/.381/.825 with five home runs and 12 RBIs. In his last three games, O’Dowd:

• Delivered the league’s first multi-homer game and drove in three runs on Tuesday in an 11-10 loss at Peoria.

• Lashed three hits, including two doubles, and three RBIs in a 7-5 victory at Scottsdale on Wednesday.

• Homered again on Thursday in a 15-8 loss to Scottsdale at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick.

Days to relax are great, but O’Dowd’s days at the ballpark are special.

“A lot of it is the consistency of a day in and day out approach -- it ultimately leads to many days getting stacked on top of each other that are good,” O’Dowd said. “That’s what leads to this feeling of being hot and locked in. it’s really just having joy every day.”

This has been one joyful year for O’Dowd, who went undrafted out of the University of Texas in 2024 before parlaying a 22-homer season at independent Billings last year into an opportunity with the Rockies -- the team that once employed his father, Dan O’Dowd, as general manager.

During the Minor League regular season, O’Dowd blew through the lower levels of the Rockies' system, hitting .345 with seven homers and 25 RBIs in 22 games at Single-A Fresno before batting .359 with nine homers and 25 RBIs in 34 games at High-A Spokane. Promoted to Double-A Hartford on July 1, O'Dowd homered in his debut and went on to hit .254 with seven homers and 28 RBIs in 51 games.

O’Dowd arrived for his Fall League assignment eager to apply the information he learned when faced with stiffer competition at Hartford. He was not as successful with the top-of-the-zone fastballs, which he crushed in A-ball.

“There were times where guys just executed really well and just beat me, which is part of the game,” O’Dowd said in between hitting sessions while preparing for the start of the Fall League. “Also, there were times when my swing was just a little longer. I wasn’t moving quite as efficiently. With how fast the game moves now, if you’re not moving the right way, it’s really hard to cover that pitch.”

Rockies Minor League hitting coordinator Nic Wilson said O’Dowd all along has displayed qualities that suggested Double-A was a slowdown rather than a brick wall. O’Dowd had already shaken off a rough final season at Texas to show that he deserved a shot in professional baseball.

“The story is great, but the person is better,” Wilson said. “This guy showed up the first day of Spring Training ready to work and was, like, ‘How can we get better?’ Open ears. We threw a lot of stuff at him early in camp to figure out what the strengths and weaknesses were.

“He had a really good relationship with [hitting coach] Greg Jones in Fresno. That was important. They hit on things that Jack still does in the cage to this day. He was touched by all three coaches, including Tyler Ladendorf at Spokane and Zach Osborne at Hartford.”

O’Dowd arrived for the Fall League with a plan, and the means to execute it. The Trajekt Arc -- a pitching machine that provides images of specific pitchers and can be programmed to deliver their exact pitches -- has helped him prepare for opponents, who are either top prospects or attempting to earn spots on their teams’ Major League roster.

O’Dowd has kept his mind open for information. Yankees shortstop prospect Dax Kilby (No. 78 overall prospect per MLB Pipeline) has been a sounding board. Playing at the Rockies facility has given him access to organization coaches on hand, and he’s picking up pointers from coaches outside the organization such as Rafters manager Ted Tom (Nationals organization) and hitting coach Scott Nestor (Yankees organization).

The Rockies increased O’Dowd’s playing time at first base during the season, and he has played the position some in the Fall League, but catching is an emphasis. To that end, Rockies' No. 20 prospect Sean Sullivan, a lefty with the Rafters, has helped.

The whirlwind year, which started with O’Dowd being one of the older players at Fresno to rubbing shoulders with top prospects and even those who have debuted in the Majors, has given O’Dowd a well-rounded experience as he prepares for the next career step.

“When I was an older guy at the lower levels, it provided me a good opportunity to teach some of these younger guys,” he said. “I've been through a lot of ups and downs, and to show what could be coming from an adversity standpoint or just how to approach every day was good.

“Now to be around guys that are my age or older, it’s just another test to try to get better every day. You have to be sharper.”