Minor League Baseball

Colorado Rockies Top Prospect Zac Veen Shows Off Purple Hair at Spring Training

Zac Veen showed up at the Colorado Rockies' big league spring training camp sporting purple hair, demonstrating a commitment to the club that drafted him in 2020.
Sam Connon|
Summerlin, Nevada, USA; Colorado Rockies right fielder Zac Veen (73) returns to the dugout in a game against the Kansas City Royals at the end of the third inning at Las Vegas Ballpark.
Summerlin, Nevada, USA; Colorado Rockies right fielder Zac Veen (73) returns to the dugout in a game against the Kansas City Royals at the end of the third inning at Las Vegas Ballpark. | Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images

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Colorado Rockies

Zac Veen, looking to bounce back in a big way in 2025, made quite the first impression down at spring training.

The Colorado Rockies had their first full-squad workout in Scottsdale, Arizona, on Tuesday. Veen, now a member of the 40-man roster, showed off luscious, purple locks when he took the field.

DNVR Rockies’ Nate Mills and The Denver Post’s Patrick Saunders shared photos of Veen’s new look on social media.

Veen underwent left wrist surgery in June 2023, then suffered a lower back strain and a right thumb injury in 2024. In total, he has appeared in 111 minor league games over the past two seasons.

The outfielder hit .258 with an .805 OPS last year, primarily between Double-A and Triple-A.

Veen has averaged 19 home runs, 32 doubles, five triples, 95 RBIs and 63 stolen bases per 162 games in his minor league career. He has already appeared in 36 spring training games over the last three years, batting .260 with one home run, three doubles, 10 RBI, 13 stolen bases and a .641 OPS.

The 23-year-old was the Rockies' first round pick in the 2020 MLB Draft. He was a consensus top 50 prospect in baseball entering the 2022 and 2023 seasons before largely falling out of favor with talent evaluators across the league.

Veen ended 2024 as the No. 3 prospect in Colorado's farm system, but he was not included in MLB Pipeline's preseason top 100. Veen is expected to make his major league debut in 2025, even if he remains a long shot to earn an Opening Day roster spot out of camp.

The Rockies have Brenton Doyle, Nolan Jones and Jordan Beck in place as their starting outfielders. Sam Hilliard, plus utility men Hunter Goodman and Greg Jones, are poised to rotate in off the bench.

Top prospect Charlie Condon could enter the mix in 2026, but he did not earn an invitation to camp. It remains to be seen what color his hair is at this point in the offseason.

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Sam Connon
SAM CONNON

Sam Connon is a staff writer for “Minor League Baseball on SI’’ and other "On SI'' baseball sites. He previously covered UCLA Athletics for “UCLA on SI’’ and won awards from the College Media Association and Society of Professional Journalists. Connon also wrote for “New England Patriots on SI’’ and was on the Patriots and Boston Red Sox beats at Prime Time Sports Talk. Follow Sam on Twitter @SamConnon.

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