Zac Veen’s arrival another manifestation of the Rockies’ youth movement

DENVER — Zac Veen being in the outfield for the Colorado Rockies this season wasn’t a surprise. That he was promoted at the expense of another one of their young outfielders, Jordan Beck, was.

But that’s how it might end up gong this year at 20th and Blake, where evaluation of the players they want to identify for their young core is realistically the primary task for a team that already sits six games out of first base heading into Tuesday’s play.

“But along with those two guys and some other outfielders, some pitchers you’ll probably see more this year — it’s happening,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. “A younger group of players, mixing in with some veteran players — which you have to have both.

“And we got some veteran guys who are being productive, so, we’ll see.”

And to Black’s point, the Rockies have one foot in both lanes of youth and experience. Take their Tuesday lineup against the Milwaukee Brewers as an example.

Hunter Goodman, who had a rough weekend in which he had just one hit in three games against the Athletics, is out of the lineup as either a catcher or designated hitter for the first time this season. Jacob Stallings is catching; Kris Bryant has DH chores; they’re 35 and 33 years of age, respectively.

The veterans in their rotation weren’t enough to stave off a rough start. Such were the Rockies’ early-season woes that they got off to their worst-eight game-start in club history — matching the 2005 opening octet of games — despite having a starters’ ERA of 2.08.

It’s early, but the NL West gauntlet serves as a likely reminder that a realistic task this year is to take long, objective looks at their prospects from which they’ve exhausted all viable minor-league evaluation.

Austin Gomber’s injury forced that moment for Chase Dollander on Sunday, and as Black indicated, Dollander is in the rotation to stay.

Veen is probably at that point. Outfielder Sean Bouchard — who has just 10 plate appearances in 6 games this year — might be at that juncture, too.

But the evaluation of youth is about more than just Dollander, Veen and the aforementioned Beck.

“I think everybody’s excited about Zac and for me personally, I’m excited about a lot of our young guys,” Black said. “Some guys you haven’t even seen yet or a year or two down the road. So this is just another young man getting his career started.”

FOR ZAC VEEN, EVERYTHING IS A FIRST ON THIS DAY

Zac Veen will make his first start. He’ll have his first plate appearance. But the firsts began a few hours earlier — with his first batting practice.

Yep, even though he was a first-round pick of the Rockies in 2020, he had never been to Coors Field to visit for a BP session prior to his promotion. He took those maiden swings just moments before answering questions from media in the dugout Tuesday afternoon.

“I had not taken batting practice. I really wanted to get the nerves out of the way,” Veen said.

“So, when we got that done, it was good, just like I dreamed it would be.”

Now it’s a matter of turning that dream into a reality.

As for Beck, whose spot Veen takes, the work he’ll do in Albuquerque is all about the plate. He hit .188 last year in 184 plate appearances and opened this season hitting .150 in the No. 9 spot in the order.

“More [consistency] offensively. Jordan, good on the bases, solid in the outfield,” Black said. “I think just the at-bats. A little bit more specifically to the fastball, the major-league fastball.

“There’s some things he has to work on there, which he’ll do. He’s aware of those things.”