Refreshed Veen ready for big year after being added to Rox's roster

DENVER -- In a late-season cameo with Triple-A Albuquerque, MLB Pipeline's No. 83-ranked prospect Zac Veen had a simple goal once he shed the maddening hand injuries -- season-ending left wrist surgery in 2023, and a ruptured flexor tendon in his right thumb this April -- that had wiped out most of his past two seasons.

Veen, who also ranks as Colorado's No. 3 prospect, joined the Isotopes in late August, and packed quite a bit of excitement into 21 games. He batted .220 with six home runs and three doubles among his 18 hits, plus six stolen bases that included one of third and even one of home. He struck out 24 times and drew seven walks.

Veen was a must-see outfielder who relished giving folks something to see.

More eyes will be on Veen in 2025. The Rockies added Veen, who turns 23 on Dec. 12, to the Major League 40-man roster on Tuesday -- the deadline for protecting players from the Rule 5 Draft during next month’s Winter Meetings. The Rockies currently have 39 players on their roster.

“I had so much enjoyment playing for my teammates and playing for the people who came to watch me play,” said Veen, the Rockies’ top Draft pick (ninth overall) in 2020. “I got away from worrying about if I was either good or bad at the game, because there have been so many opinions about that lately. I just wanted to make somebody feel like they spent that money well to watch me play.

“That's what I missed so much over the past two years -- especially the way that I injured myself this year. When I came back, in Triple-A, it was like nothing was taken for granted. I was so happy every day, so grateful.”

In 2023, Veen tried playing through a left hand injury that had affected him for much of the previous year. After batting .209 in 46 games, he underwent surgery that June.

This year, he missed time in a freakish way.

While with Double-A Hartford, Veen was batting .326 with five home runs through 28 games. But Veen, who made it to Double-A in his first full professional season and was chosen as the 2022 Arizona Fall League Offensive Player of the Year, admitted this week that, even despite his strong start, “I didn’t really feel like myself.”

In addition to not feeling he had regained the form that made him a top prospect in the first place, Veen was dealing with back soreness. Then, the frustration over a strikeout bit him.

“I came back into the dugout -- the dugout [roof] in Hartford is right above your head,” Veen said. “Typically, if I’m frustrated, I’ll tap the top of my helmet. This time I just caught it the wrong way. I hit the roof pretty hard, and it pinched my thumb and my index finger together. And there was no room above the top of my helmet. I jammed my thumb up pretty good -- it was a self-inflicted move.”

After rehab assignments at the team's complex in Scottsdale, Ariz., and with High-A Spokane, Veen rejoined Hartford but went 3-for-32 in eight games and returned to the injured list. The injury was only part of his struggle.

After eschewing a commitment to the University of Florida and signing with the Rockies for $5 million out of Spruce Creek High School in Port Orange, Fla., Veen struggled to handle the life-changing decision. He pressed to “beat the college curve,” meaning to reach the Majors before the players in his Draft class who opted for college. And just simply processing everything took time.

“Honestly, I used to feel I was playing baseball for every other reason but my own enjoyment,” Veen said. “I’ve got enough money to where I live like a king compared to how I lived five years ago. I used to share a bedroom with my brothers, or watch him sleep on a futon in the living room. It’s a different world for me now.”

Finally, a follow-up exam that showed he didn’t need surgery on the right thumb -- just a year after left hand surgery -- eased his mind and energized a rehab stint that led to the time in Albuquerque.

“I was like, ‘OK, it’s go time,’” Veen said. “I literally went to the batting cage the next day.”

Rockies player development director Chris Forbes said even his heart races when watching Veen.

“There are times that he can make me beat my head against the wall for something he does, then the next day he does the same thing and wins the game,” Forbes said. “He plays a fearless style, very energetic, especially when he’s going right. It can be fun to watch.”

After his eventful finish in Triple-A, Veen is having as much fun as those watching him.

“We already live such a great and blessed life,” Veen said. “And I get to go to the park every day and play baseball, and I had a lot of good mentors and coaches and trainers. It was during that injury time that I grew the most.”