Colorado Rockies: How 2020 top pick Zac Veen impressed in Arizona

2 of 3

Aug 4, 2017; Denver, CO, USA; General view of the hat and glove of Colorado Rockies shortstop Pat Valaika (4) (not pictured) in the seventh inning against the Philadelphia Phillies at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports /

We continue our look at the Colorado Rockies farm system with assistant GM for player development and farm director Zach Wilson. Today, Wilson tells us what the Rockies saw recently out of Colorado’s top pick in the 2020 Major League Baseball draft, Zac Veen.

With the ninth overall pick in the 2020 MLB Draft, the Colorado Rockies selected 18-year-old outfielder Zac Veen. From the moment his name was called from the podium, Rockies fans have been itching to know more about the 6-foot-4 left-handed-hitting Veen (read the scouting report on him here). With that in mind, in an exclusive interview, we asked Colorado assistant GM for player development and farm director Zach Wilson for his initial impressions of Veen.

Wilson was able to see Veen for the first time in professional workouts during the recent Arizona instructional league. Veen was one of 39 players to take part in the five-week exercise at Colorado’s spring training facilities in Scottsdale, Ariz.

When I asked Wilson for his first impressions of Veen during his time in Arizona, Wilson didn’t mince words describing him as “a superb athlete in the batter’s box” and saying that all of the hype that proceeded Veen was well-deserved.

“Everything that I had seen on video and heard from our scouts, that we thought was coming into this organization, it showed up exactly like that,” Wilson said.

Jun 20, 2017; Denver, CO, USA; A general view of a Colorado Rockies hat and glove in the sixth inning of the game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports /

Veen’s swing and potential for power was one of the biggest reasons why Veen was called the best high school hitter available in the draft.

Wilson was high on what he saw from Veen in the batter’s box during action in Arizona.

“He’s an excellent athlete in the box who can really manipulate his swing,” Wilson said. “He has a great feel for his body and how it moves around in the batter’s box. He has bat speed. He has leverage. He has obvious raw power already. And what’s great about him is he has some of those things already and he’s not even near what he has the ability to do three or four years from now once he gains strength and once he gains more experience facing the type of pitchers that he faced in instructional league.”

More from Colorado Rockies News

With COVID-19, there wasn’t a chance for Veen to complete his senior high school season (he played just 11 games) and there was no rookie or A-ball for Veen to participate in this summer. However, Wilson said Veen looked like he hadn’t missed a beat when he stepped to the plate in Scottsdale.

“He steps right in and he’s facing 95-96 right out of the gate, and he is right on everything as an 18-year-old high school kid who hasn’t played baseball for the last six months,” Wilson explained. “That was really impressive to see those tools show up right out of the gate, especially with the downtime that he’s had.”

Oct 10, 2019; St. Louis, MO, USA; A ball lays in the outfield grass during practice day prior to game one of the 2019 NLCS playoff baseball series between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Washington Nationals at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports /

While Veen didn’t seem to miss a beat in the batter’s box, there is more to being a professional baseball player than just hitting (unless you’re Edgar Martinez). The Rockies will need Veen to develop his defensive skills as well to prepare for the outfield that awaits him at Coors Field.

More from Rox Pile

The defensive side is where Veen could have perhaps learned the most with a rookie season in Grand Junction or Boise. On the defensive side of the game is where Veen will see “a significant amount of his early development,” according to Wilson.

“He’s just so naturally skilled in the batter’s box, and he has some tools defensively too. He is going to have to really learn how to utilize those tools and turn them into skills at the professional level,” Wilson explained. “As a high schooler, he didn’t have to think much about some of the stuff on defense. Playing defense on the professional level is much, much different than roaming around in the outfield in high school and being able to make every type of play look easy. I think a significant amount of his early development is going to be defensively. I think that’s where the biggest growth area is for him.”

But, Wilson was quick to point out that there is room for Veen to grow in the box as well.

Next. What Wilson told us about how the instructional league came together and some thoughts on MiLB. dark

“Offensively, certainly, he’s going to have to make adjustments along the way,” Wilson said. “He’s a young player who is going to have to cut his teeth as he goes through the beginning of his professional career, but he has an enormous projectable amount of talent in the batter’s box, which is really easy to see right out of the gate.”

Home / Colorado Rockies News

We continue our look at the Colorado Rockies farm system with assistant GM for player development and farm director Zach Wilson. Today, Wilson tells us what the Rockies saw recently out of Colorado’s top pick in the 2020 Major League Baseball draft, Zac Veen.

More from Rox Pile

Schedule