Tyler Paddor | March 12, 2025

We have reached the top 5 of the Blake Street Banter Top 40 prospects series. With that, we now transition into individual player breakdowns, starting today with longtime top prospect Zac Veen.

The Spruce Creek HS product finds his prospect stock somewhat depressed after a recent career stretch that features several long-term injuries, though his 2024 performance reignited much of the hope Rockies fans have in the exciting outfield prospect.

As a recap, we have released 9 articles already in this series, spanning prospects 6-40 and even a couple of honorable mentions. All links can be found here:

Full List of Prospects Rankings
Honorable Mentions | Prospects 36-40 | Prospects 31-35 | Prospects 30-26
Prospects 21 – 25 | Prospects 16-20 | Prospects 11-15 | Prospects 8-10 | Prospects 7-6

#5 – OF Zac Veen

Zac Veen’s career has been an unpredictable and bumpy path. After being selected 9th overall in 2020 and dominating the California League in his first pro season, Veen looked poised for stardom. In 2021, the Florida native posted a 19-year-old statline for the ages; 15 homers, 36 stolen bases, a .301/.399/.501 triple slash (the .300/.400/.500 would have been SO satisfying), 27 doubles, and 64 walks, though the 126 strikeouts stood as a lone downside. Veen held it down in both outfield corners, even recording 8 assists, ranking at or near the top of most of those categories.

The lanky 6-foot-3 slugger then backed up his 2021 campaign with 50 steals in just 92 games with Spokane before a promotion to Hartford. Veen suffered a wrist injury late in the season season that impacted his play and eventually required surgery many months later after a cold start in 2023. Effectively, part of 2022 and almost all of 2023 were a wash for the former top prospect in the organization. 2024 was a return to form with Veen recording an .815 OPS (135 wRC+) at Double-A, though with different injuries limiting his playing time.

At this point, gauging Veen’s abilities and projecting his big league role is a difficult task. On one hand, there is superstar upside with a chance the outfielder hits 20-30 homers and steals 30 or more bags while also drawing walks and playing sturdy defense.

On the other, Veen may struggle to hit with enough consistency–his longer swing lags against high end velocity, especially up and in–and struggle to stay on the field consistently. Being “injury prone” is somewhat of a myth but at some point, you start questioning someone’s availability and durability.

What we can certainly say about Veen from a scouting perspective is there is immense power potential because of his whippy and lofty swing. Another certainty in Veen’s game is his athleticism. While the toolsy outfielder was known as a quality athlete going into the 2020 draft, he was never expected to steal 50 bags in a season, let alone steal one almost every 2 games. If Veen can reach the 20 HR-30 SB threshold in the bigs, the Rockies front office will sleep well at night knowing one of the more premier talents to ever play in the Rockies organization panned out.

Veen seemed to surge out of the gate in 2025 Spring Training with a bat flip of the ages, though his Spring Training performance has leveled out since the sensational start. Still, Veen is demonstrating much of the promise he has always been heralded for as he seeks to impact the Rockies in 2025.

An argument can be made that if the Rockies are to find consistent success in the late 2020s, Veen will need to realize much of his potential and become a Carlos Gonzalez-type player. The flary Veen will get plenty of chances to debut in 2025, whether that comes in April or September and all fans should keep their fingers crossed for his success.

Keep a watchful eye on Veen in 2025, as well as our #4 prospect article releasing tomorrow, featuring a player with a similarly rocky career trajectory. Thanks for sticking around for this series!