{"id":597800,"date":"2026-02-28T09:02:19","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T09:02:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/597800\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T09:02:19","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T09:02:19","slug":"rockies-zac-veen-put-on-40-plus-pounds-after-getting-sober-and-is-crushing-the-ball-at-spring-training","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/597800\/","title":{"rendered":"Rockies\u2019 Zac Veen put on 40-plus pounds after getting sober \u2014 and is crushing the ball at spring training"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Colorado<\/p>\n

Colorado Rockies outfielder, Zac Veen walks back to the dugout after striking out during the first 2026 spring training game at Salt River Field at Talking Stick in Scottsdale, Arizona on February 20, 2026.<\/p>\n

Some big lifestyle changes have Rockies prospect Zac Veen tearing it up this spring.<\/p>\n

Veen, 24, put on more than 40 pounds, going from around 200 to a strong 245 pounds, but the biggest adjustment came outside of the weight room.<\/p>\n

\u201cDefinitely one of the bigger, main things was sobering up,\u201d Veen recently told MLB.com<\/a>. \u201cI had a pretty big substance abuse problem for a few years. But I\u2019m completely clean and sober.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were times last year where it was out of hand. Coming home in the offseason, I had to look in the mirror and make some adjustments. And I definitely got closer to God, and it made me want to be the best version of myself in every aspect.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Zac<\/p>\n

Zac Veen is pictured during the Rockies\u2019 Feb. 27 game in spring training. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Veen, the ninth overall pick by Colorado in 2020 and No. 11 prospect in the Rockies\u2019 farm system, per MLB Pipeline, has not lived up to expectations during his five seasons in professional baseball.<\/p>\n

After a long slog through the minors, Veen hit just .118\/.189\/.235 during a brief, 37-plate-appearance MLB debut last season, and he was later sent to the Arizona Complex League.<\/p>\n

Looking back, he said, it was all about what was going on off the field.<\/p>\n

.A lot of my meals were smoke \u2014 and things that shouldn\u2019t have been,\u201d Veen added. \u201cI was smoking weed every day. If I couldn\u2019t find any weed, I was drinking every single day. I\u2019d say ever since I got home in 2021 after my first season, it was a consecutive streak of not being sober. Being able to cut that out of my lifestyle and replace that with protein is very beneficial to the genes God gave me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, Veen\u2019s hard work and discipline is starting to show.<\/p>\n

He is 3-for-11 early on this spring with two home runs, both coming in dramatic fashion.<\/p>\n

On Monday, Veen blasted a 113 mph, 468-foot home run to center field to give the Rockies the walk-off win.<\/p>\n

\"Colorado<\/p>\n

Colorado Rockies outfielder Zac Veen has two walk-off homers this spring training. Denver Post via Getty Images<\/p>\n

He did it again on Friday, crushing a 447-foot bomb for a second walk-off home run in February.<\/p>\n

Veen credited his high school coach, Johnny Goodrich, and Rockies development player development director Chris Forbes for getting him back on track.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a collaborative thing \u2013 I can\u2019t thank them enough,\u201d Veen said. \u201cI participated in an 11-week program with substance abusers and alcoholics \u2013 people wanting to better themselves. I started going to church. I got baptized, went to Bible study every Wednesday.\u201d<\/p>\n

Veen is facing an uphill battle if he wants to make the Rockies\u2019 Opening Day roster, but it\u2019ll be hard to keep him off if he keeps hitting the way he is.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Colorado Rockies outfielder, Zac Veen walks back to the dugout after striking out during the first 2026 spring…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":597801,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2395],"tags":[146,5,52,1816,778,58,4171,4,151,1605,1399],"class_list":{"0":"post-597800","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami-marlins","8":"tag-arizona","9":"tag-baseball","10":"tag-colorado-rockies","11":"tag-marlins","12":"tag-miami","13":"tag-miami-marlins","14":"tag-miamimarlins","15":"tag-mlb","16":"tag-spring-training","17":"tag-the-rockies","18":"tag-zac-veen"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116147451408737900","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=597800"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597800\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/597801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=597800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=597800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=597800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}