Zach Cole

Zach Cole

25-Year-Old OutfielderOF
Houston Astros AAA
2026 Fantasy Outlook
Cole made his big-league debut Sept. 12 -- a month after turning 25 -- and made waves with two home runs and a .533 OBP over his first four games. His ever-present strikeout issues caught up to him, with Cole hitting .176 with a 40.5 percent strikeout rate over his final 37 plate appearances. Even amid that rough stretch, Cole hit another two homers with three steals, so it seems he'll be a source of power and speed when he plays. A great overall athlete, Cole consistently logged isolated slugging marks over .200 and strikeout rates over 30 percent along his march to the majors. He was never a highly regarded prospect due to his age and 30-grade hit tool, and it's to be determined if he'll make enough contact to occupy the strong side of a platoon. He slashed .279/.377/.539 with 19 home runs and 18 steals in 97 games at Triple-A last season, but his .418 BABIP, 35.1 percent strikeout rate and the fact he was old for the level made it less impressive. Similarly to org. mate Brice Matthews, Cole makes solid swing decisions, he just whiffs a lot. The lefty-hitting outfielder will get a shot this spring to carve out a starting role against right-handed pitching. Read Past Outlooks
RANKS
Rest of Season
From Preseason
#445
ADP
Signed a one-year contract with the Astros in March of 2026.
Dispatched back to Triple-A
OFHouston Astros  AAA
May 26, 2026
The Astros optioned Cole to Triple-A Sugar Land on Tuesday.
Analysis
Cole had started only three of the past seven games, and he's sported an untenable 39.6 percent strikeout rate in 18 games with the Astros this season. He's clearing off the active roster to make room for the return of Taylor Trammell (groin).
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Batting Stats
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2026 MLB Game Log
2026
2025
2026 MLB Game Log
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2025 MLB Game Log
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Minor League Game Log
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Batting Order Slot Breakdown
vs Right-Handed Pitchers
vs RHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
1
1
1
4
3
3
vs Left-Handed Pitchers
vs LHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
1
Left/Right Batting Splits
Since 2024
 
 
+152%
OPS vs RHP
2026
 
 
-100%
OPS vs RHP
2025
 
 
+96%
OPS vs RHP
2024
No Stats
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2024vs Left .307 17 1 0 0 0 .071 .235 .071
Since 2024vs Right .773 88 11 7 19 3 .226 .261 .512
2026vs Left .000 6 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
2026vs Right .613 47 3 3 8 0 .178 .213 .400
2025vs Left .489 11 1 0 0 0 .125 .364 .125
2025vs Right .958 41 8 4 11 3 .282 .317 .641
2024vs Left 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2024vs Right 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Home/Away Batting Splits
Since 2024
 
 
+10%
OPS on Road
2026
 
 
+16%
OPS at Home
2025
 
 
+2%
OPS on Road
2024
No Stats
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2024Home .671 52 5 4 8 0 .200 .231 .440
Since 2024Away .741 53 7 3 11 3 .208 .283 .458
2026Home .570 34 2 2 4 0 .182 .206 .364
2026Away .491 19 1 1 4 0 .111 .158 .333
2025Home .866 18 3 2 4 0 .235 .278 .588
2025Away .886 34 6 2 7 3 .267 .353 .533
2024Home 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2024Away 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Minor League Left/Right Batting Splits (AAA)
Since 2024
 
 
+6%
OPS vs RHP
2026
 
 
-100%
OPS vs RHP
2025
 
 
+23%
OPS vs RHP
2024
No Stats
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2024vs Left 1.084 13 0 2 .455 .538 .545
Since 2024vs Right 1.151 60 6 15 .286 .417 .735
2026vs Left .000 1 0 0 .000 .000 .000
2026vs Right .705 11 1 1 .125 3.091 .500
2025vs Left .950 12 0 2 .500 7.000 .600
2025vs Right 1.171 49 5 14 .317 21.000 .780
2024vs Left 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2024vs Right 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Stat Review
How does Zach Cole compare to other hitters?
This section compares his stats with all batting seasons from the previous three seasons (minimum 400 plate appearances)*. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. For example, if the bar is halfway across, then the player falls into the 50th percentile for that stat and it would be considered average.

* Exit Velocity and Barrels/PA % are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 400 PA) and Hard Hit Rate is benchmarked against last season's data (min 400 PA). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.
  • BB/K
    Walk to strikeout ratio
  • BB Rate
    The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a walk.
  • K Rate
    The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a strikeout.
  • BABIP
    Batting average on balls in play. Measures how many of a batter’s balls in play go for hits.
  • ISO
    Isolated Power. Slugging percentage minus batting average. A computation used to measure a batter's raw power.
  • AVG
    Batting average. Hits divided by at bats.
  • OBP
    On Base Percentage. A measure of how often a batters reaches base. Roughly equal to number of times on base divided by plate appearances.
  • SLG
    Slugging Percentage. A measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats.
  • OPS
    On base plus slugging. THe sum of a batter's on-base percentage and slugging percentage.
  • wOBA
    Weighted on-base average. Measures a player's overall offensive contributions per plate appearance. wOBA combines all the different aspects of hitting into one metric, weighting each of them in proportion to their actual run value.
  • Exit Velocity
    The speed of the baseball as it comes off the bat, immediately after a batter makes contact.
  • Hard Hit Rate
    A measure of contact quality from Sports Info Solutions. This stat explains what percentage of batted balls were hit hard vs. medium or soft.
  • Barrels/PA
    The percentage of plate appearances where a batter had a batted ball classified as a Barrel. A Barrel is a batted ball with similar exit velocity and launch angle to past ones that led to a minimum .500 batting average and 1.500 slugging percentage.
  • Expected BA
    Expected Batting Average.
  • Expected SLG
    Expected Slugging Percentage.
  • Sprint Speed
    The speed of a runner from home to first, in feet per second.
  • Ground Ball %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are on the ground.
  • Line Drive %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are line drives.
  • Fly Ball %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are fly balls.
BB/K
0.05
 
BB Rate
1.9%
 
K Rate
39.6%
 
BABIP
.185
 
ISO
.196
 
AVG
.157
 
OBP
.189
 
SLG
.353
 
OPS
.542
 
wOBA
.237
 
Exit Velocity
92.8 mph
 
Hard Hit Rate
40.0%
 
Barrels/PA
9.4%
 
Expected BA
.212
 
Expected SLG
.444
 
Sprint Speed
24.8 ft/sec
 
Ground Ball %
43.3%
 
Line Drive %
13.3%
 
Fly Ball %
43.3%
 
Prospect Rankings History
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Additional Stats
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Defensive Stats
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Batted Ball Stats
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Recent RotoWire Articles Featuring Zach Cole See More
Recent RotoWire Articles Featuring Zach Cole See More
More Fantasy News
Heading to bench Wednesday
OFHouston Astros  AAA
May 20, 2026
Cole is out of the lineup for Wednesday's game against the Twins.
Analysis
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Idle against southpaw
OFHouston Astros  AAA
May 18, 2026
Cole is out of the lineup for Monday's game against the Twins.
Analysis
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Launches solo shot Saturday
OFHouston Astros  AAA
May 16, 2026
Cole went 1-for-3 with a solo home run during the Astros' 4-1 win over the Rangers on Saturday.
Analysis
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Delivers winning hit
OFHouston Astros  AAA
May 13, 2026
Cole went 3-for-4 with one RBI and a hit-by-pitch in Wednesday's 4-3 extra-inning win over the Mariners.
Analysis
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Homers in return
OFHouston Astros  AAA
May 5, 2026
Cole went 1-for-4 with a solo home run in Monday's 8-3 loss to the Dodgers.
Analysis
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Latest Fantasy Rumors
Shines during 2025 season
OFHouston Astros  AAA
December 30, 2025
Cole was a breakout prospect in the Astros organization during the 2025 season, according to Jonathan Mayo, Jim Callis and Sam Dykstra of MLB.com.
Analysis
Cole was drafted in the 10th round of the 2022 MLB Draft out of Ball State and always had excellent tools, but he struggled to stay healthy. He was able to get everything together in 2025 and slashed .279/.377/.539 with 19 homers and 18 steals in 97 games between Double-A and Triple-A. That earned him a promotion to the majors, and he went deep on the first big-league pitch he saw with the Astros. Cole was one of the biggest success stories in the Astros organization in 2025 after the big-league team missed the playoffs.
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