Major-league owners have locked out the players, regular-season games have been canceled, and the Rockies are coming off three consecutive losing seasons with no immediate path back to contention in sight.
But those baseball storm clouds don’t change the buzz around Colorado’s next great hope, Zac Veen, an outfielder who will be playing his home games this year over 1,000 miles away from Coors Field.
Veen, the Rockies’ 2020 first-round pick at No. 9 overall out of Spruce Creek High School in Port Orange, Fla., is widely viewed as the franchise’s top prospect. With minor-league camp underway in Arizona, Veen is slated to begin 2022 with High-A Spokane under enormous expectations.