Colorado Rockies news and links for Wednesday, April 9, 2025
“Let the kids play!” we all cried in the waning days of spring training. “We want Zac Veen!”
The monkey’s paw curled, and the wish was fulfilled on Tuesday as the Colorado Rockies officially promoted Zac Veen to the big league roster. Unfortunately, calling up Veen required optioning Jordan Beck to Triple-A Albuquerque.
As hard as it is to see Beck sent down instead of cutting Nick Martini or some other avenue, the move does come as a bit of a necessity. Beck struggled out to the gate this season, carrying over some worrisome struggles seen in spring training, and even some struggles dating back to his first big league stint in 2024.
It’s obvious the 24-year-old 2022 draft pick needs some work, so let’s figure out what exactly it is he needs to do now to get back on the big league roster.
In his first nine games, he slashed .150/.261/.150, going 3-for-20 with an RBI. The most glaring culprit was the eight strikeouts against three walks. Now, 23 plate appearances aren’t exactly enough of a sample size to determine that that ratio is egregious. After all, the Rockies’ offense is plagued by strikeouts with several players having more than Beck, but the struggles still range further back to spring training.
In 24 games during Cactus League play, Beck slashed .231/.306/.446. He went 15-for-65 with four home runs and eight RBI. He managed to hold onto his Opening Day roster spot by showing off the power near the end of camp but a flaring issue was the 25 strikeouts against six walks. Veen had been sent down because of his strikeout rate in camp, a number that wasn’t dissimilar to Beck.
But the trend doesn’t stop there, in 2024 Beck struck out 65 times in 184 plate appearances over his 55 games in the big leagues against 12 walks. The offensive woes could be chalked up to the hand injury and the difficulties in his return to the lineup after missing roughly 60 games, but remember, he struck out 30 times in his first 23 games before the hand injury while drawing just one walk.
It’s a stark contrast to his numbers in the minors. Since being drafted in 2022, Beck has struck out over 30% just once at any level in the minors, doing so in 50 games with Double-A Hartford (31.8%) in 2023. He has also carried a strong walk rate of over 10% at each extended stop save his big league stint in 2024.
So, the strikeouts are a major issue but they aren’t the root cause of his struggles.
Take a look at these two charts of Beck’s percentile rankings from the last two seasons:
Notice anything that stands out?
If you said, “Those are a lot of low, blue bars!” Then you are right on point.
Beck clearly has plenty of bat speed on his swings sitting around the league average. However, the problem is that he isn’t making enough contact and not enough quality contact on those swings. Beck’s power potential is only useful if he can square up a baseball and hit it hard. In his 64 career games of major league playing time he just hasn’t shown that trait quite yet.
Part of this stems from the fact that he has a 1.47 ground ball to fly ball ratio. In the minors, he has kept his ground balls and fly balls closer to 1.00, but his ground balls have surged at the major league level. That increase in ground balls has caused his minor league career 0.74 ground-outs to air-outs ratio to jump up to 1.02 in the big leagues.
The plate discipline is the contributing factor to both issues.
Below is his career plate disciple chart:
Beck swings quite a bit, that’s no mystery. While we only have Statcast dates from his time in Triple-A and MLB, it paints a clearer picture of the big league struggles. He swings more at these upper levels, leading to more whiffs and more misses. We see that he chases more, or rather chases, and is less successful in making contact.
What stood out to me is that Beck saw his first-strike percentage jump up to 64.7% for his big league career.
The first pitch of an appearance is a lynchpin in baseball and it has drastic effects on the results for a hitter.
When Beck takes the first of an at-bat, he is batting .171 in 133 at-bats. When he swings at the pitch, that average jumps up 35 points. In either scenario, he is striking out quite a bit, and the overall production is relatively equal. The numbers fluctuate count-to-count but the fact of the matter is that he hits worse when he gets behind in the count and the first pitch strike percentage is not helping.
So, what can he do in Triple-A while he’s down there?
First and foremost, I’d like Beck to regain his confidence. He’s a player with plenty of swagger at the plate. We see it on the bases when he gets on because he is able to swipe bags. He has earned praise from the likes of Todd Helton because he has the moxy to be an effective and professional hitter.
Part of it feels that the struggles, and the injury, is the first big test that Beck has faced in his baseball career. He has had his struggles of course in college and professional baseball, but nothing to the extent of playing with the Rockies. A trip to Triple-A to refocus and simplify his mindset could give him the resurgence Michael Toglia saw after his demotion last season.
I’d like to see Beck working on his plate approach, refining and taking advantage of the tools he already has. It’s okay to be an aggressive hitter, but you have to still be able to be selective at the plate. Beck has already proven he can do this in the minors, so letting go of the pressure he may be putting on himself will be crucial.
As he goes back to simplifying his approach finding his rhythm, there is little doubt he will find his way back to the big leagues. The free-swinging can’t keep happening. Barreling up a ball is priority number one and the rest of the things will follow.
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On the Farm
Triple-A: Sugar Land Space Cowboys 6, Albuquerque Isotopes 5
It was a game of high highs and low lows as the Isotopes lost 6-5 to the Space Cowboys. Catcher Braxton Fulford led the offense with two home runs, going 2-for-4, as the offense turned out 10 hits. Unfortunately, the Isotopes also struck out 11 times and went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position. Jack O’Loughlin started on the mound and allowed two runs on one hit in 3 1⁄3 innings, but issued nine walks. On the night Isotopes’ pitching allowed just four hits and had 10 strikeouts but allowed 17 walks. Jefry Yan took the loss, allowing two runs in the eighth which would be the difference as Albuquerque scored just one in the top of the ninth.
Double-A: Hartford Yard Goats @ Binghamton Rumble Ponies (Postponed)
High-A: Spokane Indians 8, Vancouver Canadians 2
A slugging offense and strong pitching snagged the Spokane Indians their second win of the season as they beat Vancouver Tuesday. The Indians collected 11 hits as a group, including five extra-base hits. In the fifth inning, the Indians scored four runs after Jesus Bugarin hit a lead-off homer, later followed by a two-run inside-the-park home run from Braylen Wimmer, and capped off by an Andy Perez homer to give them a 5-0 lead. Aidan Longwell and Skyler Messinger each had doubles as part of their two-hit nights. The pitching staff, led by Konner Eaton’s scoreless three-inning start, allowed two runs on six hits with 10 strikeouts.
Low-A: Inland Empire 66ers 10, Fresno Grizzlies 3
A 66ers six-run fifth inning was the ultimate demise for the Fresno Grizzlies as they dropped to 2-2 on the season. Bryan Mena was effective through four innings allowing just one run, but a walk, a single, and a hit by pitch loaded the bases in the fifth. A two-run single later followed with one out making it a 3-0 ball game and chasing Mena from the game. Two more runs came in to score that were attributed to him. On the night Fresno pitching gave up 16 hits but did have nine strikeouts against one walk. The offense did scratch across three runs on seven hits, but they struck out 14 times and went 3-for-10 with runners in scoring position.
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Octavio Dotel Dies In Roof Collapse Tragedy | MLB Trade Rumors
Among those who tragically lost their lives in an accident at a club in the Dominican Republic early Tuesday morning was former Rockies reliever Octavio Dotel. Dotel pitched for the Rockies briefly in 2010 after a mid-September trade. He tossed just 8 1⁄3 innings for Colorado, posting a 5.06 ERA at the age of 36. They declined his 2011 option and received a compensation pick that they used to draft Trevor Story.
Can the Debut of Chase Dollander Mark a Change in Culture? | Just Baseball
Patrick Lyons tries to answer the question posed in the title. Dollander was solid in his debut, but did it spark something for the Rockies culture that has become stagnant?
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