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.
Drafted in the second round of the 2020 draft by the then Oakland Athletics, Jeff Criswell's journey through professional baseball has not been a particularly smooth one.
After two seasons of solid results working his way up through the Atheletic's minor league affiliates, Criswell was dealt to the Rockies before the 2023 season for reliever Chad Smith . He spent the entirety of 2023 at Triple-A Albuquerque where he struggled with spikes in both home runs and walk rates.
In 2024, the Rockies moved Criswell to the bullpen. While his home run rate remained elevated, his strikeout numbers ticked up enough to earn him a call up to the Major League club .
Criswell's career hit another speed bump in the form of Tommy John surgery in March of 2025 . He spent the entirety of the 2025 recovering from that surgery and entered this season looking to re-establish himself in the Rockies bullpen.
By the end of April, Criswell was given the green light to return to game action with a minor league rehab assignment .
Officially, that rehab assignment lasted just under a month with Criswell making nine total appearances between High-A, Double-A, and Triple-A. All told, he threw 10.2 innings with a 5.91 ERA. He was removed from the injured list and optioned to Triple-A on May 28 .
Criswell did not, however, have to wait much longer to return to the big leagues. A little over a week after he was optioned, the Rockies recalled him to take Keegan Thompson 's roster spot.
Criswell looked sharp in his first two outings.
In addition to allowing no runs in an inning each against the Chicago Cubs and The Athletics, his fastball velocity was sitting 95-96 MPH, just like it had been in 2024. He walked a batter in each game and wasn't particularly efficient, needing over 20 pitches to get through each inning, but those were minor concerns in the context of his return from surgery.
Despite that small sample size success, Criswell was shuffled down to Triple-A to make room for a fresh arm on June 13 .
His second stint in Albuquerque lasted only 8.2 innings. Again in search of a fresh arm for the bullpen, the Rockies recalled Criswell on July 11. Criswell opened this second stint with the big-league team with a two inning appearance against the Cincinnati Reds .
This outing did not go nearly as well as his previous two for the big-league squad.
His first pitch of the game was smashed to the wall in the center-right field gap resulting in an inside-the-park home run for Spencer Steer.
That would not be the end of the damage as Criswell went on to allow three more baserunners including a home run by Elly De La Cruz in the ninth inning.
Unfortunately, a slight dip in velocity during that appearance against the Reds (down to 94.3) was a precursor for a return to the injured list. The next day, Criswell was placed on the 15-day IL with a right shoulder strain .
When his time on the IL was up, he was optioned once again to Triple-A where he finished out his season with the Isotopes.
All told, in his return from Tommy John, Criswell managed to throw 41.2 innings across 35 appearances between four different levels of the Rockies organization.
The results were not always pretty, as evidenced by his 5.73 minor league ERA and his 10.35 Major League FIP, but he has was able to get prove that he could take the ball and flashed the strikeout upside that made him an interesting relief option heading into 2025.
In 2027, Criswell will be 28. He has done enough to put himself in the mix for the bullpen heading into the spring. He will need to solidify a spot in the pen come next season or will likely see his 40-man roster spot given to a younger prospect.
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