BILLINGS — Now decompressing back home in Hamilton after his first full year pitching in the minor leagues, Hunter Omlid can look back on his 2025 season with a sense of achievement.
"It was a good year. It was a solid year," Omlid, who spent his season with the Spokane Indians of the Advanced Class A Northwest League, told MTN Sports last week. "Having a first spring training and then a first full season, it's really about just embracing the schedule. It's a lot different than college; you're playing six games a week every week from the beginning of April to the beginning of September.
"It's about staying on top of everyday things and not letting anything defeat you mentally. It was a huge learning curve."
But the 2019 Hamilton High School grad hopes it's just a prelude to advancement through the Colorado Rockies organization.
In 2025, the 6-foot-2 Omlid appeared in 29 games for Spokane, throwing 62 1/3 innings of relief. His eight victories led the team, and he had a 10.0 K/9 average. He had 69 strikeouts and allowed 31 walks. His ERA was 5.34 and his WHIP was a modest 1.492.
But the stats are secondary to Omlid's ongoing physical and mental development.
Picked by the Rockies in the 20th and final round of the 2024 MLB Draft, Omlid played American Legion baseball for the Bitterroot Red Sox before collegiate stops at Boise State, Central Arizona College, Grand Canyon and Arizona State.
After being drafted, Omlid threw just six innings at Single-A Fresno in the summer of 2024. So this season was effectively his first real minor league campaign.
"I battled through the entire year," Omlid said. "So I was really happy with how the year ended and how the year turned out. There are a couple key parts of my game that I'm going to really focus on this offseason, and when spring training comes around and I perform there, make my way to Double-A ... I think I put myself in a good position to do that."
Among Omlid's points of focus in the offseason will be velocity — he said he topped out at 96 this year but hovered around 92-95 — as well as continued development of his changeup to go along with an arsenal that includes a slider. Sequencing will also be key.
"In college I pitched a lot better against right-handed hitters than left-handed hitters, and this year I pitched a lot better against left-handed hitters than right-handed hitters, and that's because of that third pitch. Having that third pitch, I really saw the importance of it at the professional level.
"So yeah, developing that third pitch and throwing it to both sides of the plate would be the best thing for me to do this offseason. I think that's the key to all of it."
An assignment to Double-A Hartford of the Eastern League to begin the 2026 season would be the ideal situation for the 25-year-old Omlid.
Off the diamond, Omlid was recently married. He tied the knot with Jaycee, whom he met at Grand Canyon University. The wedding was held in Victor last winter.
"She lived with me this season, which was amazing," Omlid said. "Having a spouse is, for me, really important. The living circumstances, it makes things a lot better too. So I was happy to start our life together while I started playing professionally. It's just been a special year."
As a prospect in the Rockies organization, Omlid is trying to make his way through the system for a parent club that has struggled in recent years. The Rockies are currently in the throes of their third consecutive 100-loss season.
They were challenging the record for most losses in a major league season — 121 — set last year by the White Sox, but will avoid that infamy.
Nevertheless, Omlid believes better days are on the horizon based on what he's seen at the developmental level.
"I just know that they really do want the best for us, and the amount of good people in the organization is really awesome and important," he said. "There's a really good group of people and good guys that I'm around all the time, and I know other organizations aren't necessarily like that.
"I know in the past few years it hasn't necessarily gone in the direction that they want, but I know this year people in the organization are happy about the direction that it's going. They're making changes. They're not trying to do the same thing over and over again. Putting the right people in the right places and having the right ideas behind those people is what it's about."
