Jack O’Dowd: Undrafted to Double-A Catcher
An undrafted second baseman volunteered to catch, and the position switch unlocked everything his bat had been waiting to do.
Jack O’Dowd spent four years at Texas playing second base. He hit .257 and twelve home runs across four seasons. He did everything right — and when the 2024 MLB Draft ended, his name was never called.
For most players, that is the last chapter.
O’Dowd decided it was the first page of a different story. That fall, he volunteered to catch in an MLB development league. Catching is the hardest job on the field: squat for nine innings, take the foul tips, block the dirt balls, call the game. He had never caught professionally. But he added the position to his toolkit anyway.
Something clicked.
The Billings Mustangs of the Pioneer League signed him for 2025. He was 24 years old and had never played a professional game. He went out and hit .333 with 22 home runs — 53 extra-base hits in 395 plate appearances. Still, the offensive talent that sat dormant at Texas had not disappeared. The position change had finally found it.
The Colorado Rockies noticed. So they signed him in January 2026. Within six months, he had blazed through two Class A levels, leading the minor leagues in slugging and OPS as of late June. Then came the promotion to Double-A Hartford.
Here is what that climb looks like:
| Level | Year | AVG | OBP | SLG | HR | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pioneer League (Billings) | 2025 | .333 | .449 | .642 | 22 | 53 XBH in 395 PA |
| Low-A (Fresno) | 2026 | .333 | .375 | .679 | 7 | 22 games |
| High-A (Spokane) | 2026 | .359 | .451 | .664 | 9 | 38 RBI |
| Double-A (Hartford) | 2026 | .245 | .322 | .462 | 5 | 121 PA through mid-season |
Double-A is where prospects find out whether their numbers were real. O’Dowd’s average has settled at .245 — a genuine adjustment to better pitching — but he still carries a .462 slugging percentage and five home runs at a level that humbles most. Baseball America’s August 2026 Top 30 update named him a riser in the Rockies organization.
There is a wrinkle to this story that makes it harder to look away. Jack grew up in Denver, the youngest son of Dan O’Dowd, who ran the Colorado Rockies as general manager for twelve years. Dan is now an analyst for MLB Network and holds no role with the organization.
So Jack had every connection in baseball and still went undrafted. What brought him back was not a phone call. It was a position change, a willingness to squat behind the plate, and relentless production across four minor league stops.
The position switch did not just save his career. Instead, it revealed what was always there. He chose the hard job when second base was no longer enough of a door, and that choice became the key.
That could be you.
Try this at your next practice
- The crossover footwork drill. If you played infield before moving behind the plate, your feet have habits. Set up in your stance and work the pop-and-throw without the ball. Focus on the shift from catcher’s crouch to your throwing foot driving toward the base. Because infield shuffles are lateral, a catcher’s exchange runs straight up and through. So run it 20 times dry until the new pattern replaces the old one.
- The position flexibility question. Ask your coach or a parent out loud: what other position could I play, and what would I need to develop to do it? Not as a backup plan — as a competitive advantage. In fact, O’Dowd’s willingness to say yes to catching opened a door that second base never could. Position flexibility is not a concession. For some players, it is the whole career — and for O’Dowd, it still is.
- The catcher’s receiving warmup. Before your next bullpen session, spend five minutes purely on framing and quiet hands — no throwing, no blocking. The transition from infield to catching is partly footwork (drill 1) and partly stillness: a catcher who moves the mitt at contact loses the call. Receive ten throws from a partner or off a fence toss, and hold every pitch in the zone for a two-count before returning it.
Sources: Baseball America August 2026 Top 30 Rankings update · Jack O’Dowd turns independent league breakthrough into Colorado Rockies organization success (Spokesman-Review / Yahoo Sports) · Rockies Promote Jack O’Dowd To Double-A (Baseball America) · Colorado Rockies prospect rankings, mid-season 2026 (Purple Row) · Roc Riggio & Jack O’Dowd Homer in Goats Loss (OurSports Central)
