Rockies right-hander Pierson Ohl, just acquired in a trade with the Twins last month, has been diagnosed with a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow and will undergo Tommy John surgery, reports Thomas Harding of MLB.com. Obviously, Ohl will miss the entire 2026 season. He can be transferred to the 60-day IL the next time Colorado needs a roster spot.
The 26-year-old Ohl made his big league debut with Minnesota in 2025, pitching 30 innings with a 5.10 earned run average — mostly out of the bullpen. He was outstanding in the minors, totaling 71 1/3 frames with a 2.40 ERA, a 30.3% strikeout rate and just a 3.9% walk rate. Ohl doesn’t throw hard, averaging only 91.9 mph on his four-seamer, but FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen credited him with a plus changeup (60 on the 20-80 scale) and potential plus-plus (70) command this past summer.
Though he’s not yet firmly established in the majors, Ohl had a clear opportunity to win a spot in Colorado’s bullpen. Victor Vodnik, Seth Halvorsen, Juan Mejia, Jimmy Herget, Brennan Bernardino and starter-turned-swingman Antonio Senzatela are highly likely to have spots, but Rule 5 pick RJ Petit is no lock to make the club and several of the other relievers still have minor league options remaining.
Those hopes are now dashed for the upcoming season. If there’s a silver lining for Ohl, it’s that moving to the 60-day IL will keep him in the majors all season, netting him a year of big league service and big league pay. The $780K major league minimum is nearly eight times the $100K bonus that Ohl received when signing as a 14th-round pick out of Grand Canyon University back in 2021.
Even if Ohl spends the entire 2026 season on the 60-day injured list and accrues a full year of service, he’ll still be a potential long-term option for Colorado. He came to the Rockies with just 62 days of MLB service, so he’d finish the season at 1.062 years and remain under club control — with a full slate of three minor league option years — for at least another five seasons. Ohl and former top infield prospect Edouard Julien (who’s out of minor league options) were traded from Minnesota to Colorado in exchange for pitching prospect Jace Kaminska late last month when the Twins needed some 40-man space.
The Rockies are so bad they’re making up people now
Ohl no…
We need a counter on the page for TJS/UCL brace surgeries
Start one.
Ohl’s wings got clipped
I take it that the Rockies don’t look at medicals before finalizing trades? At least I assume that’s the case with a club as dysfunctional as them.
Did they look at Bryant’s medical before giving him the contract they did?
Bryant was excellent his first year in Colorado.
You mean his first quarter year, don’t you? He only played 40 some odd games. But you are correct that he did look like his old MVP self when he did played that first year. But the past three he looked like a shell.
He’s had back trouble his whole career, am a giants fan and watched him suffer and power through even the few months he was on that team.
Duh!
everything in minnesota is broken. avoid at all costs. got it.
He’s with Colorado now.
But he broke in Minny.
He didn’t “break” in Minnesota
I’m guessing the Rockies knew this was likely when they made the trade? I
I’m guessing, yeah. It was a notably uneven trade when it happened, as Ohl was a real MLB relief prospect and the dude the Rockies sent to Minny is a non-prospect. Julien was pretty good a couple years ago too. If Ohl was a likely TJ candidate that explains it a little better.
Even Twins pitchers that left the team are getting hurt now hopefully we don’t end up like last years Dodgers with pitching injuries.
Ye Ohl Tommy John strikes again.
Well, Piersonohlly…
He last pitched 2 shutout innings for the Twins 9/27 game 161 of the season. So this injury happened somehow during the off season or more likely at the start of Spring Training.
Meh. The trade was still fair even if was just Julien for Kaminska. Ohl was no lock for a spot anyway. He can basically take Jeff Criswell’s spot on the TJ list since Criswell should be coming back in a couple months.