Tuesday Rockpile: What will Zac Veen bring to the Colorado Rockies outfield?

Colorado Rockies news and links for Tuesday, April 8, 2025

The news dropped on Sunday: Zac Veen (No. 4 PuRP) would be called up to join the Colorado Rockies.

Although Veen’s promotion has not yet been made official, on Monday morning, the Rockies announced Jordan Beck would be going to Triple-A Albuquerque.

Colorado Rockies

Evan Lang has made Veen’s case for being with the Rockies (see here and here). I’m interested in exploring the current state of the Rockies’ outfield as well as where Veen may fit in that mix.

Yes, I know: Teams have yet to play 10 games, so were are in small-sample-size territory, and the current data isn’t worth much. With those caveats in mind, it’s worth considering where the Rockies in terms of their outfielders.

Offense

Let’s start out with the outfielders’ offensive numbers, according to FanGraphs. Clearly, Veen is not included in this data.

FanGraphs

What stands out? Doyle continues to be the defensive foundation of the outfield, having had significantly more plate appearances than any of his colleagues. His numbers seem, at this point, fine as he continues to make improvements at the plate — but check out that low K% (for now).

As for Nick Martini, he has had fewer opportunities than many expected, but he has made the most of them.

Sean Bouchard and Mickey Moniak have had very few plate appearances, so they will be two players to watch going forward.

Then there’s Jordan Beck, who has clearly struggled at the plate so far — and the Rockies have given him opportunities to show what he can do.

A slashline of .150/.261/.150 suggests he is still trying to find his swing at the plate, especially given that he is coming off a wrist injury that saw him missing much of 2024. A trip to Albuquerque gives Beck an opportunity to reset, find his swing, and hit some homers before returning to Denver. These numbers do not suggest that “hitting through it” is a solid strategy given where Beck is in his career. (Plus, he’ll be back.)

In the meantime, Veen has had 31 MiLB at-bats this season in which he has 12 hits, including four doubles, a triple, and a home run. He’s slashing .387/.472/.677 with an OPS of 1.149. Giving him a chance to face MLB pitching while Beck gets things sorted out makes sense.

Plus, Veen went five for five on Saturday night:

Add to that the fact that the Rockies have stolen only four bases, and bringing up Veen makes even more sense since base-path chaos is his calling card.

Calling Veen up at this point gives him a chance to show what he can do.

Defense

Now let’s turn to the defensive numbers with the numbers again coming from FanGraphs.

FanGraphs

With 78.0 innings already logged, Brenton Doyle is, by far, the Rockies outfielder with the most innings. He’s followed by Beck (53.0 innings) and Martini (47.0 innings). Bouchard seems (again) mostly forgotten on the Rockies bench.

Doyle and Martini each have two DRS with the other outfielders are at 0 with Beck having earned -2 DRS. The two-time Gold Glove center fielder is off to another solid start defensively.

Beck’s struggles have been on both sides of the plate. A tune-up trip to Albuquerque seems warranted.

It’s difficult to find much MiLB defensive data, but we’ll soon have a sense of Veen’s ability to navigate Coors Field. Plus, he’ll be able to learn from the master, Brenton Doyle.

Closing thoughts

One area in which Beck has not struggled is with stolen bases, a category in which he leads the Rockies. Of the Rockies’ four stolen bases, Beck has snagged three of them. That said, Veen is known for his base-stealing prowess — in spring training, he was among the elite base stealers in MLB. The question is whether he will be able to get on base and create some chaos.

Then there’s the spark plug factor: Something needs to wake this team up, and maybe that someone is Zac Veen. Granted, it’s early, and players are still getting their timing down, but the Rockies need to get on track.

Hopefully, when Veen takes his place in left field tonight, he’s got purple hair and his Dinger cleats, and a bat that will pick up where it left off in spring training.

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On the internet

Another Rockies commercial has become available.

Michael Toglia just seems to have a knack for these things.

By the way, there’s an Easter egg in it, which I missed. Can you find it? Leave your answers in the comments.

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Chase Dollander has arrived | MLB.com

In his Rockies Beat newsletter, Thomas Harding reviews Dollander’s MLB debut, including some thoughts on the game from the Rockies’ presumed future ace.

Zac Veen, Chase Dollander promotions reveal Rockies’ game plan | Denver Post ($)

Patrick Saunders outlines the Rockies’ thinking in their recent promotions: “But it’s not simply that Veen sizzled with the Isotopes; it’s that Colorado’s offense desperately needs a spark. Despite putting up 12 runs on Sunday, the Rockies rank fifth in the National League with a .667 OPS, and their 28.% strikeout rate is the second highest in the majors.” Can Veen can provide that spark. We’ll know soon enough.

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