April 8: The Rockies have formally announced the moves. Veen is up from Albuquerque for his MLB debut, while Beck has been optioned to Triple-A in his place.
April 6: The Rockies are promoting top outfield prospect Zac Veen for their next game against the Brewers on Tuesday, according to a report from Thomas Harding of MLB.com. Outfielder Jordan Beck will be optioned to make room for Veen on the active roster, and Veen is already on the club’s 40-man roster.
It’s a slightly delayed big league debut for Veen, who was in the conversation for an Opening Day roster spot but ultimately lost out to Beck, Sean Bouchard, and non-roster invitee Nick Martini for a shot at regular work in the corner outfield for Colorado to start the year. The 23-year-old was Colorado’s first-round pick back in 2020 and was a consensus top-50 prospect early in his pro career. That prospect status was built primarily on phenomenal performances at the Single-A and High-A levels, where he posted slash lines of .301/.399/.501 and .269/.368/.439 respectively.
He’s been limited to just 111 games by injuries over the past two years, however, which has dropped his prospect stock significantly. A lackluster stint at Double-A in 2022 where he hit just .177/.262/.243 across 34 games already presented some red flags, so many prospect evaluators bailed on Veen when he struggled to a lackluster .209/.304/.308 slash line in 46 games at the level in 2023, particularly when combined with a wrist injury that cost him most of the season. The outfielder’s numbers bounced back somewhat in 2024, as he slashed .258/.346/.459 across four levels of the minors last year while battling thumb and back issues that limited him to just 65 games.
Fortunately, he finally showed he could hit Double-A pitching in a 36-game sample last year and even held his own at Triple-A, with six homers in 21 games despite a 29.3% strikeout rate. That was enough to earn Veen a shot to prove himself during camp this year, and while he ultimately didn’t make the club’s Opening Day roster he made the most of the opportunity and hit well with a .270/.352/.460 slash line in 28 spring games. Since being demoted to Triple-A, he’s done nothing but hit, posting a scorching .444/.516/.778 slash line with as many extra-base hits (six) as strikeouts in his first seven games of the year at the level.
Clearly, that was enough that the Rockies couldn’t justify keeping him in the minors any longer. That leaves Beck ticketed…
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