Zac Veen sits against another lefty starter

The defensive miscues came back-to-back in the Padres’ seven-run second inning. After a long run to his left, he had Jackson Merrill’s fly bounce off his glove for a triple. A minute later, he made an ill-fated dive after a Xander Bogaerts liner, turning a single into another triple. Veen went 5-for-15 with two homers and seven RBI in his first week with the Rockies last month. Since then, though, he’s 8-for-40 with no homers, five RBI and 21 strikeouts. He’s probably going to enter 2027 as an underdog to claim a spot in Colorado’s outfield.

Veen came up with two outs and a runner on second in the bottom of the ninth, doubling off Andrew Kittredge to send this one to extras. Colorado then walked it off in the eleventh. Veen’s playing time has been sporadic since he was recalled from Triple-A on August 11, as he has started just 10 of 21 games, including none against lefties. The 24-year-old is striking out over 38% of the time in his brief big-league sample, but he had that mark down to 20% at Triple-A. He’s a deep sleeper to keep in mind this offseason.

Mickey Moniak and Jordan Beck are in the outfield corners with Cole Carrigg in center field. Veen has started just nine times in 17 games since being called up earlier this month, hitting .250 (7-for-28) with two homers, seven RBI and one steal. The 24-year-old prospect figures to continue sitting against left-handed starters, but he should do enough damage against right-handers to be useful in deeper fantasy leagues, especially when the Rockies are at home.

Carrigg has hit a bit of a rough patch recently, hitting .230 (17-for-74) with zero homers and four steals across 20 games since the start of August. It’ll be Ezequiel Tovar handling shortstop with Mickey Moniak, Jake McCarthy and Zac Veen in the outfield for this one. The 24-year-old rookie offers enough all-around fantasy production to hang onto a roster spot in deeper mixed leagues, but can be cut loose in shallow formats with five weeks left on the calendar.

No surprise here with lefty Blake Snell toeing the rubber for Los Angeles. It’ll be Jordan Beck in right field. The left-handed power-hitting prospect figures to sit against most southpaws for the final six weeks of the season, but should receive plenty of opportunities to mash against righties. The 24-year-old has gone deep twice in four games since returning to the big leagues last week. He’s at least worthy of a speculative roster spot in all formats based on his talent, path to regular at-bats and extremely favorable home ballpark.

Veen’s blast to right was hit 111 mph off of Landen Roupp, giving him two homers in two games since his recall. That the Rockies play six games at home next week would seem to make him an interesting pickup, but, unfortunately, the team is currently slated to face lefties in four of those games and Veen is expected to do a lot of sitting against lefties. Maybe he can change that if he stays hot this weekend.

Only promoted yesterday, Veen made his presence known early on in his first game back up with a long home run. He blasted it 104.7 mph off the bat and it traveled an estimated 407 feet, landing directly in the pool at Chase Field in Arizona. There’s no question that he has game-breaking power after smashing 24 home runs in 100 games at Triple-A this season plus he had a 113 mph max exit velocity. He also stole 18 bases, but has bulked up a good bit since being known as more of a speedster a few years back. The question with Veen is more so how the Rockies are going to get him in the lineup every day. In this came, they shifted Cole Carrigg from center field to shortstop to make it work. Then, Veen was pulled from this game in just the sixth inning so Ezequiel Tovar could go in to shortstop and Carrigg back to center. There’s still more to learn about how this situation will shake out.

Veen is one of the more challenging prospects to evaluate for fantasy purposes because he’s missed a ton of development time to injury since being selected ninth overall back in 2020. The 24-year-old has put up some stratospheric numbers in extremely hitter-friendly environments on the doorstep of the majors this season, batting .327/.402/.635 with 24 homers and 18 RBI over 100 games. He’s been sizzling hot since the start of August and the Rockies were getting almost nothing from their outfield mix besides Cole Carrigg and Jake McCarthy. He’s talented enough to make an impact for fantasy purposes, but a wait-and-see approach feels like the right move. Simply put, we need to see something from Veen in the big leagues before he’s worthy of a roster spot in shallow mixed leagues.

Veen is now hitting .455/.514/1.121 in eight games in August with five home runs, 12 RBI, 13 runs, and two steals. Unfortunately, with Mickey Moniak, Cole Carrigg, and Jake McCarthy in Colorado, there is no room for Veen.

Veen is now up to 17 home runs and 65 RBI in 89 Triple-A games to go along with a .313/.389/.580 slash line and 15 steals. He deserves another shot with the Rockies but likely won’t get one unless they trade away some outfielders at the deadline.