It’s a reminder or an inspiration. Or both.
On his left arm, just above his elbow, Zac Veen sports a Major League Baseball logo tattoo. Veen was inked last July after injuring his thumb playing with Double-A Hartford.
“I felt like, at that time, I was ready (for the majors),” Veen said Tuesday afternoon. “The idea was that I wanted to get here, at some point.”
Now, the 23-year-old outfielder is indeed “here.”
Veen was in the starting lineup in right field to make his MLB debut at Coors Field Tuesday night against Milwaukee. He hit seventh and wore jersey No. 13.
Colorado’s No. 8 prospect (MLB Pipeline) hoped he would make the 26-man roster straight out of spring training. That didn’t happen — he was shipped down to Triple-A Albuquerque — but Veen kept the faith.
“I feel like everything works out for a reason and I learned a lot down there,” Veen said from the Coors Field dugout, surrounded by reporters and cameras.
Manager Bud Black, excited as he always is to be part of a major league debut, said, “Hopefully, this is the start of a nice major league career of a good young baseball player. … Let’s get him going and see what he can do.”
Veen broke down the big-league door on Saturday night with a 5-for-5 performance that included a home run, two doubles and four RBIs in Albuquerque’s 14-3 home victory over Salt Lake. In seven Triple-A games, he hit .387 (12 for 31) with a 1.149 OPS that included one homer, four doubles, a triple and one stolen base.
Colorado optioned outfielder Jordan Beck to Triple-A to make room on the roster for Veen. The Rockies believe Beck will become a solid big-league player, but he scuffled for most of spring training and then got off to a bad start in the regular season. Beck, who turns 24 on April 19, had been starting in left field but hit 3 for 20 (.150) with eight strikeouts in 23 plate appearances (35.3%).
Black said Beck needs to work on his hitting, noting that he struggled with big-league fastballs.
Veen finds himself face-to-face with the big-league test he’s been aiming for since before the Rockies selected him with the ninth overall pick in the 2020 draft out of Florida’s Spruce Creek High School.
“When you are young and hungry, you’ve got nothing to lose, so this is probably the best position I could be in,” Veen said.
The Rockies love Veen’s passion and skill set, especially his power at the plate and speed on the bases. But he’s got a lot to learn. Black made that clear.
“Like all outfielders, he (needs to) continue to work on routes, breaks (to the ball), jumps and go out and play fundamentally sound baseball,” Black said.
Veen will play primarily right field in home games and could see action in left field away from Coors Field. Black said Veen could also play in center field if called upon.
Veen stole 135 bases in 351 games in the minors and could potentially be a threat on the bases in the majors. The Rockies could use that. Colorado had just four stolen bases through their first nine games, tied for fifth-fewest in the majors.
Veen, Black said, needs to be “smart on the bases, in general,”
“He’s got speed and has the aggressiveness to want to steal a base — when appropriate,” Black said. “We are going to watch him first-hand in a major league environment, for the very first time. So we’ll see.
“I’ve seen him in the minor league environment, and he can be a little bit overzealous — at times. We have to make sure through our conversations with him … that we will see that major league baserunner up here.”
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