Zac Veen

Veen has pedigree (ninth-overall pick in 2020) and will call Coors Field home one day, but his eventual statistical output is tough to project, even after he played a full 2022 season at High-A, Double-A and the Arizona Fall League. Part of the problem is that he was seen as a future plus power hitter when he was drafted, with scouts expecting him to fill out his 6-foot-4 frame, but instead he has remained athletic and wiry with fringe-average game power. He turned 21 in December and had a 42:14 K:BB in 141 plate appearances at Double-A (young for the level), juxtaposed to an 8:15 K:BB in 99 plate appearances in the AFL, where the pitching was notoriously bad. A case could be made for just throwing out his Double-A performance due to his youth and throwing out his AFL performance due to the video-game offensive conditions. Veen was age-appropriate at hitter-friendly High-A Spokane, where he hit .269/.368/.439 with 11 home runs, 50 steals, a 22.5 K% and a 12.5 BB%. Throw out the steals, and this seems like an accurate representation of where Veen is at developmentally. For years, the Rockies have given all their prospects the permanent green light on the bases - plenty of prospects you've never heard of have tallied 30-plus steal seasons in that organization. As for a known commodity, Sam Hilliard stole 60 bases between High-A and Double-A from 2017-2018. Veen gets plus run grades from FanGraphs and has an average run grade from Baseball America. He is a decidedly better base stealer than Hilliard ever was, but you should expect him to be a 20-plus stolen-base threat in the majors at your own risk. Veen will likely return to Double-A and could get to Triple-A this summer.

Veen's surface stats at Low-A oversell how good his pro debut was. He hit .300/.398/.495 with 15 home runs and 36 steals, although he needed 53 attempts to tally that mark. Ten of his 15 home runs came in the homer-friendly confines in Fresno, and all his stolen base total tells us is that he was extremely aggressive once he got on first base -- the Rockies have long been an organization that gives every player a permanent green light. That's not to say Veen is without impressive tools. Conservatively listed at 6-foot-4, 190 pounds, he projects to develop plus game power, and he could maintain 50-grade speed, even as he fills out. However, his 26.3 K% at Low-A is bit of a red flag, as he will likely strike out even more as he faces better pitching. Coors Field helps prop up a player's batting average, so it's easy to dream on Veen being a borderline five-category fantasy contributor, but it should be understood that Veen is still a very risky prospect despite a strong statistical debut, and it can't be overstated how misleading those 36 steals are.

Veen, a 6-foot-5, 200-pound outfielder, emerged after a breakout junior year as one of the most highly-regarded prep position players in last year's draft class. He is not the best hitter in his class, but his combination of plus-to-double-plus raw power and a strong approach appealed to the Rockies with the ninth overall pick. His maximum exit velocity was in the 98th percentile and his bat speed was in the 96th percentile in his class, according to Perfect Game. Given his combination of size and raw power, there will probably always be some swing-and-miss in his game, but he figures to log high walk rates and high on-base percentages. An average runner with an above-average arm, Veen will likely end up in right or left field. A future home in Coors Field lessens batting average concerns, but it will take him four or five years to reach the majors.