Welcome to the 2026 edition of Ranking the Rockies, where we take a look back at every player to log playing time for the Rockies in 2026. The purpose of this list is to provide a snapshot of the player in context. The \u201cRanking\u201d is an organizing principle that\u2019s drawn from Baseball Reference\u2019s WAR (rWAR). It\u2019s not something the staff debated. We\u2019ll begin with the player with the lowest rWAR and end up with the player with the highest.<\/p>\n
No. 41, Zac Veen (-0.3 rWAR)<\/p>\n
Zac Veen (No. 6 PuRP<\/a>) has had a lot of ups and downs in his tenure with the Rockies.<\/p>\n There was a lot of excitement when the outfielder was drafted ninth overall in 2020 out of Spruce Creek High School in Port Orange, FL and he ended up making his MLB debut on April 8, 2025 <\/a>after nearly breaking camp with the team.<\/p>\n It didn\u2019t go very well.<\/p>\n Veen played 12 games with the Rockies in 2025, slashing just .118\/.189\/.235 with eight total bases and 14 strikeouts. He fared a little better in Triple-A Albuquerque \u2014 slashing .289\/.354\/.468 through 90 games \u2014 but it was revealed in spring training 2026 that Veen was dealing with substance abuse<\/a> off the field.<\/p>\n When he arrived at Salt River Fields to start 2026, Veen was a different player.<\/p>\n He\u2019d put on about 43 pounds from the end of last season, and was a new player both physically and mentally. Veen played in 11 spring games, hitting .250\/.375\/.550 with two homers.<\/p>\n He was optioned to Albuquerque to start the year, and absolutely tore through the Pacific Coast League. Ahead of his call-up on August 11th<\/a>, Veen was hitting a scorching .327\/.402\/.635 with 24 home runs and 18 stolen bases. He was named PCL Player of the Month for June<\/a> \u2014 where he hit .366\/.385\/.782 with 24 extra-base hits \u2014 as well as back-to-back PCL Player of the Week for the weeks of August 2nd<\/a> and August 9th<\/a>.<\/p>\n Veen was recalled on August 11th<\/a> and made his MLB re-debut on August 12th against the Arizona Diamondbacks. He immediately made his presence known by hitting a home run into the pool at Chase Field in his first game back:<\/p>\n He doubled down by hitting a splash home run into McCovey Cove in San Francisco in the very next game:<\/p>\n He also had that wild play at home on August 16th:<\/p>\n Veen came back with a vengeance, but it didn\u2019t last.<\/p>\n After about a week, he began to cool off both at the plate and in the field. He was primarily used as a late-inning pinch hitter, or he would be pinch-hit for late in games. He didn\u2019t make much of a case for himself, though, as he also committed numerous blunders in the field (though only two were scored as errors).<\/p>\n The most egregious ones were on September 17th against the San Diego Padres, where Jackson Merrill and Xander Bogaerts hit back-to-back triples, though they could\u2019ve been scored as errors.<\/p>\n He also bobbled a few during the season-closing Diamondbacks series.<\/p>\n As shown by his -4 OAA and -5 DRS, Veen\u2019s defense left much to be desired, especially late in the season.<\/p>\n Offensively, Veen slashed just .232\/.312\/.435 in 36 games. It\u2019s not a terrible line, but it\u2019s nothing to write home about either. The 39.2% strikeout rate is, though, as it was second only to Braxton Fulford (40.0%) and nearly double his strikeout rate in Albuquerque (20.4%).<\/p>\n Skyler Timmins wrote about<\/a> Veen\u2019s performance in early September, and not much has changed since then.<\/p>\n Veen\u2019s torrid Triple-A season was rewarded, though, as he finished the year as Baseball America\u2019s Triple-A Player of the Year<\/a>, PCL MVP<\/a> \u2014 the first Rockies prospect to win the award since Nolan Arenado\u2019s cousin Joshua Fuentes in 2018<\/a> \u2014 and a postseason All-Star.<\/p>\n As the Rockies continue their rebuild, there will be some tough decisions to make.<\/p>\n Zac Veen\u2019s future is one of them.<\/p>\n Fewer adsCreate community posts<\/a>Comment on articles, community postsRec comments, community postsNew, improved notifications system!<\/p>\n