Left-handed pitcher Antoine Jean was drafted by the Colorado Rockies in the seventh round of the 2025 MLB Draft out of the University of Houston. He didn’t play in 2025, and unfortunately had his 2026 debut season cut short by an ACL injury in his first outing for the Spokane Indians.
During that outing, he pitched 1.1 innings and allowed two hits with a strikeout on 22 pitches.
However, the 24-year-old had an offseason that looked to set him up for a nice 2026. It started with him representing Team Canada in the World Baseball Classic.
“It was an amazing experience,” he said during spring training. “I was blessed enough to share the locker room with a lot of guys that have played in the big leagues for a while, or are just now coming up, so being able to live that experience that young in my career was a blessing, for sure.”
The highlight was seeing his name on the Team Canada jersey for the first time while being surrounded with players he looked up to as a kid growing up in Montreal.
“There were a bunch,” he said. “Honestly, a lot of the pitchers that would spend time with me and make me feel welcome during BP, like James Paxton, Rob Zastryzny, Phillippe Aumont – who’s from where I’m from in Quebec. He’s a big name. Growing up, everybody knew about him, so just to play with him was a big deal for me.”
Jean made one appearance out of the bullpen for Canada, pitching 1.1 scoreless innings with two hits, one hit batter and two strikeouts. But he learned a lot from the experience that he plans to utilize.
“Just watching these guys go about their business, you can tell they’re true pros,” he said. “Whenever something doesn’t go their way, you can’t even tell. They’re really good at flushing things really fast. So just observing that myself, I was able to recognize that on my own and just having them talk to me and talk through things, as well, and just giving me pointers on the differences between the minor leagues and the big leagues and stuff I can take with me throughout my career.”
But the biggest advice he received, and that he plans to pass along?
“If you get the opportunity, do it,” he said, “because I’m going to take away everything I learned over there throughout my career. And just the experience is awesome. There’s no better feeling than to represent your country, I think, so I would say, ‘Do it if you get the opportunity.’”
In addition to representing Team Canada at the WBC, Jean was also selected to the Rockies’ Spring Breakout roster.
“It’s just an honor, honestly,” he said of his selection. “Just watching Spring Breakout in the years past, it’s obviously something that – as somebody that aspires to play in the Major Leagues and play professional baseball – you see and you just want to be part of it. So it’s an honor to be named to that roster and share the field with a lot of these guys.”
In the Spring Breakout game, Jean pitched the sixth inning and once again kept his opponent scoreless while issuing just one hit and one walk while striking out another.
But his biggest goal for 2026 was to “just try to stay healthy all year.” While that didn’t come to fruition, he had a good reasoning behind his goal.
“Adjusting to the college season, where it’s around 60 games, to now (where) we’re about to play 150-plus,” he said. “So (my goal) is just stay healthy and find a good routine and stick with it. And not trying to give myself too many objectives based on results – just go with the flow and put my best foot forward.”
Weekly Pebble Report: April 20th-27th
Triple-A: Albuquerque Isotopes (3-3, 15-12 Overall)
The Isotopes faced off against the Sacramento River Cats (San Francisco Giants), securing a series split. Albuquerque is now in a four-way tie for first place in the Pacific Coast League with Las Vegas, Sacramento, and Sugar Land. The offense continues to prop up the Isotopes as pitching has been a bit of a mixed bag, but workable enough to win games. Plate discipline has continued to be a promising development for Albuquerque’s offense as they drew 32 walks against 41 strikeouts in the series.
⬆️ Stock Up: Mean Veen Machine
After seeing his stock drop the last couple of weeks, Zac Veen (No. 9 PuRP) broke out in a big way during the series. In six games, he slashed .421/.542/.789 with two home runs and six RBI, posting multiple multi-hit games, including going 5-for-9 over the last two games of the series. His plate discipline continues to impress as he struck out six times in 19 at-bats while drawing five walks. Veen has now raised his batting average on the season to .271 while maintaining a .751 OPS.
⬇️ Stock Down: Starting Duo Falters
Sean Sullivan (No. 8 PuRP) and Gabriel Hughes (No. 12 PuRP) represent the future of the Rockies’ starting rotation, but for now, they still have to take their lumps down in Triple-A. Each pitcher struggled during their starts in Sacramento, with Hughes allowing eight runs in 2.1 innings of work and Sullivan allowing nine runs in three innings. While both have plenty of talent, run prevention has been a bit of an issue of late as the hits stack up. There is still plenty of season left, but consistency and execution are going to be the key as either one could be called upon this season by the big league club.
The Isotopes are back home, facing off against the El Paso Chihuahuas.
Double-A: Hartford Yard Goats (3-3, 8-12 Overall)
The Yard Goats started off strong against the Portland Sea Dogs (Boston Red Sox) with two high scoring victories of nine or more runs. However, the faltered and ended up losing three of the final four games of the series and ended up with a series split.
⬆️ Stock Up: May it please the Betancourt?
Catcher Bryant Betancourt hit over .500 on the week, going 9-for-17 at the plate with four of those hits being for extra bases. Betancourt is currently hitting .291/.341/.544 with four home runs, eight doubles, and ten RBIs as he splits time with Cole Messina behind the plate.
⬇️ Stock Down: Dented
Right-handed reliever Cade Denton had a tough week against the Sea Dogs. In his first appearance of the series he got tagged with the loss, giving up an unearned run on a hit and two walks. In his second outing he gave up two earned runs on two hits–including a home run–and a walk without tallying a strikeout.
The Yard Goats are back at home for another series against the Reading Fightin’ Phils (Philadelphia Phillies) and Tuesday is “Thunder Chickens” night!
High-A: Spokane Indians (2-4, 8-13 Overall)
The Spokane Indians started their week by losing four straight to the Everett AquaSox (Seattle Mariners) as they continue to scuffle in the first full month of the season. The Indians have yet to win or even split a series and sit low in the Northwest League standings. Pitching—expected to be a strength heading into the season—has been inconsistent, as has the offense.
Brody Brecht (no. 3 PuRP) had one of the best outings of any Spokane starting pitcher. The Indians are still limiting his innings, but Brecht struck out 7 batters in four hitless innings. However, he did give up an earned run. Brecht walked a batter in the second inning, who then stole second and reached third on a balk. He then scored on a groundout.
⬇️ Stock Down: Sox beat Cox
Jackson Cox (no. 16 PuRP) struggled in four innings against the AquaSox. Cox wasn’t particularly sharp as he struck out only one batter but gave up five earned runs on six hits and two walks. He also plunked a batter.
The league-leading Eugene Emeralds (San Francisco Giants) are the next opponent for the Indians on this extended road trip. The series does not start until Wednesday and they will play a double-header on Saturday.
Low-A: Fresno Grizzlies (2-4, 12-9 Overall)
The Grizzlies won just two games in their series against the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes (Los Angeles Angels) where pitching outside of a few standouts generally faltered and bats remain inconsistent. Their record is still over .500 and they’re in second place behind the San Jose Giants for their division heading into their next series against Stockton.
⬆️ Stock Up: The Strikeout Clause
After a bumpy outing last week against Ontario, 2025 16th round pick out of Minnesota Seth Clausen rebounded with an excellent week against Rancho Cucamonga. Clausen gave up just one hit across two outings of two innings each. He didn’t issue a single walk and struck out four batters in each appearance. Through seven appearances and 9.2 innings this season Clausen has an ERA of 1.86 with 22 strikeouts and just three walks.
⬇️ Stock Down: Wilder, tamed.
Wilder Dalis (no. 24 PuRP) has cooled off significantly since his hot start at the beginning of the season. He appeared in just three games against Rancho Cucamonga, going hitless in 11 at-bats with five strikeouts.
The Grizzlies will hit the road and head to Stockton for a six-game set against the Ports (Sacramento Athletics) as several bats look to get going.
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