The Rockies announced Wednesday that they’ve optioned outfielder Zac Veen to Triple-A Albuquerque and assigned lefty Evan Justice outright to Albuquerque after he cleared waivers. Veen’s return to Triple-A clears the way for center fielder Brenton Doyle to be reinstated from the bereavement list.
Veen, 23, was the ninth overall draft pick back in 2020 and for several years ranked among the sport’s top 100 prospects. His stock has dipped in recent seasons as his production wilted a bit in the upper minors. He put together a solid 2024 campaign, however, slashing.258/.346/.459 between Double-A and Triple-A — although he was far more productive at the lower of those two levels. Veen got out to a nice start in Triple-A this year, hitting .387/.472/.677 in 37 plate appearances, earning his first call to the show with that impressive output.
Things didn’t go well for Veen in Denver. He appeared in a dozen games with the Rox and floundered at the plate, hitting just .118/.189/.235 in an identical amount of playing time (37 plate appearances) to his early run in Albuquerque. Big league pitchers punched Veen out 14 times (37.8%), and he chased pitches off the plate at an ugly 36.6% rate. His 58.3% contact rate, as measured by Statcast, is the sixth-lowest in baseball among hitters with at least 30 plate appearances.
Rough as that debut effort was, it came in a small sample and was preceded by a track record of generally solid minor league production. Veen may no longer be viewed as the potential star outfielder he was seen as a couple years ago, but he touts a career .263/.358/.430 batting line in the minors — including a .266/.336/.531 line in 129 Triple-A plate appearances. He also only just turned 23 this past December, meaning he reached the majors at an age when most prospects — certainly the majority of college draftees — are still in the minors. He’ll head back to Triple-A for the time being and continue to refine his approach, and barring some form of major injury, it’s likely he’ll return to the big leagues at some point in 2025.
In the meantime, the Rockies will deploy an outfield with Doyle in center, where he’ll be flanked by a combination of Mickey Moniak, Nick Martini, Jordan Beck and Sean Bouchard. It’s a patchwork collection of corner options, which only further underscores that there ought to be a place for Veen later on if he continues to show well in Albuquerque. Martini is a 34-year-old journeyman. Bouchard is a homegrown product who’s in his fourth partial season. He’s fanned in nearly 31% of his big league plate appearances and will turn 29 next month. Moniak was a low-cost, one-year signing who can work in a fourth outfield role. Beck, like Veen, has been viewed as a top prospect within the Rox system but has yet to piece things together in the majors.
As for the 26-year-old Justice, he’ll stick with the Rockies as a depth option. The 2021 fifth-rounder made his big league debut in 2023 and has pitched 7 2/3 frames for Colorado since. He’s been roughed up for seven earned runs in the majors and has had a tough start in Triple-A as well, surrendering six runs with more walks than strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings. Justice’s 2024 season was shortened by a back injury that required a monthslong absence. He’s had trouble staying on the mound, also missing time with arm troubles in earlier seasons, but Justice has fanned more than 28% of his opponents in pro ball.
I send Brenton Doyle and his wife my best wishes. Miscarriages are one of the worst possible things a couple can go through. I’m rooting for him big time
Some people just can’t help themselves. I guarantee you the chatter does not help.
I think we need the thumbs down back around these parts.
VERY insensitive comment
You’re the one getting emotional over getting called out online. You sound like the weak one. And nice straw man at the end, really ties it all together.
We all run into @ssholes. If you run into @ssholes all day, you’re the @sshole.
what do you expect? He’s a Cardinals fan, They have no class
choof, that’s painting with a really broad brush.
You don’t necessarily just “heal” from that type of loss. I experienced the same thing and am still not the same 2 years later. He can’t just sit out the forseeable future
It figures that the master of bad takes lashes out if anybody says anything negative about his comments
Cards…So..if your child died you would you just suck it up and get over it? ..no time to grieve? Wow youd be father/husband of the year for sure…
“Dude”. ..i get that you clearly are tone deaf in this instance ..thats really all there is to it
Careful! Joel is the King of Mute.
…..and now he’s in the process of changing his name again
What is so hard about this? Doyle, Veen, Beck all year in Denver. The team record is completely irrelevant compared to developing their players at the major league level given the direction of the team. Martini, Bouchard, even Moniak – you’re just wasting ABs.
Why waste service time on players that are clearly not ready for big league pitching? It would be different if Veen or Beck actually looked anywhere close to good, but they aren’t. Beck is not even hitting well in AAA.. Just because they are names on a page on a prospect website is virtually meaningless. If you are not producing in the majors, teams will not just keep putting you out there. Even those that are at the bottom of the standings,
I understand your point on service time but when you call up a guy (in Veen’s case) and break camp with the other (Beck) and then pull the plug after a week, that’s certainly…. an approach?
Also Beck slashed .319/.402/.558 at AAA last season. If that’s “not even hitting well,” i don’t know what to tell you – I can only assume you’re looking at a week’s worth of 2025 games. Not all prospects enter MLB and scorch earth. Teams like the pathetic Rockies have the luxury of giving longer rope to prospects but they choose not to so that they can lose a 100+ with guys wasting developmental ABs and innings.
I wasn’t talking about last year with Beck. I was talking about this year after he got sent down for not hitting well. He went 5 for 30 with 14 strikeouts in his short AAA stint. He is just striking out too much and you are very unlikely to work through that at the major league level.
“Not all prospects enter MLB and scorch earth.” Which is exactly why not all prospects stick in the majors right from the start. Getting demoted is not the end of the line. It is a challenge to the player that they have things they need to improve. If they cannot handle the challenge, they don’t deserve to be in the bigs anyway.
Yeah, we just look at this differently. I think it’s shortsighted to reference 8 games in April and draw conclusions on a player’s progression. And players can and have worked through their early season struggles in big leagues. It’s not uncommon especially on a bottom feeder. Here’s hoping you and the Rockies have it right with the jockeying back and forth after a week of struggles.
Gotta keep those ABs available for Moniak, can’t let some rando prospect get in his way.
Oh the Rockies 😂
Moniak is only 26 years old and he is hitting very well. I don’t understand why people are writing him off as someone that is nearing the end of the line. He is the same age as Brenton Doyle.
Back in my day, Coors used to be a hitter’s park, now they can’t seem to get much of anything going. Guys like Toglia and Jones are good one year, awful the next. Revolving door of bad outfielders aside from Doyle. Did they “adjust the sliders” and make it a pitcher’s park?
WTF WHY NOT BECK?? As a longtime Rockies fan I have no clue what’s going on anymore, don’t think they do either! SMH
They had Zac Veen mistakenly thought they had Zac Vereen, they were looking for a five tool cat who could sing, dance, juggle, play Chicken George and do stand up
I think you mean Ben Vereen.
Probably best to focus on hitting and less on what colour his hair is. Come back when you’re ready to play.
4-20g, I knew it would be bad it this is beyond ridiculous. Sell the team, Monfort, you suck. At the very least get a good baseball person to replace McGregor.
“Rough as that debut effort was” is NOT PROPER ENGLISH. You can’t just leave “as” out to begin the sentence. It’s not optional! Grammar is not optional when you’re being paid to write.