00:00So it's been different this offseason, and I was curious, do you feel that difference at the start of camp
00:07now that this is a team that's just going to be operating differently now moving forward?
00:11Oh, yeah. I mean, that was that was the talk today in the clubhouse.
00:15Somebody asked manager Warren Schaefer the other day to describe this year's team in one word.
00:20He said, I'm going to use three sick and tired.
00:23And he's sick and tired of everybody bashing the Rockies talking about last year.
00:27He said it's a new year and new front office, new coaching staff, new everything.
00:32And you talk to the guys like Kyle Freeland, you talk to the Ryan Feltners, you know, even the Mickey
00:37Moniacs, the guys that have been around.
00:39And they say there's a different vibe in here right now.
00:43And it's really a good thing.
00:44And even walking in, those of us who've covered the team for a while, you can walk in and feel
00:49that there's there's something good going on here.
00:52Kevin, the biggest story in Rockies camp and one of the bigger stories, I think, in baseball over the first
00:57week of pitchers and catchers being there and hitters being there is Zach Veen, a former top prospect.
01:02I feel like he was consensus top 100 at one point.
01:05This was a top 10 overall pick in that COVID shortened 2020 draft out of high school.
01:09He looked the part and he was drafted and finished last year at about 195 pounds and he got up
01:16to the big leagues at the end.
01:17He's been a little disappointing on field over the last couple of years, but there was a great article from
01:22I know someone, you know, well, Thomas Harding at MLB dot com.
01:25And he really broke down, you know, 45 pounds of added weight this offseason and him checking in now.
01:33He got sober.
01:34He was dealing with a substance abuse issue.
01:36But Zach Veen, I know Warren Schaefer, the Rocky Skipper, said he's like a son to him the other day.
01:42Just how good is this feel good story for Veen?
01:46It's it's good.
01:47And it's one of those things that I I read the story.
01:50I saw the photos.
01:52I saw everything.
01:52But before I walked in here today in Scottsdale and saw Zach Veen for myself, I couldn't believe it, honestly,
01:59because I remember the guy that had so much potential last year.
02:03The guy that there was a lot riding on his shoulders and he just didn't live up to it.
02:07And it looked in his eyes and everywhere else physically that it was just too much for him last year.
02:13And now we kind of know behind the scenes what was going on.
02:16And I will tell you, he's a different guy.
02:19When he walks past you, he carries himself differently.
02:23You can tell that that mentally he's he feels like he's figured it out.
02:28Now, I will tell you, some of the swings I've seen and everything here, still some work to do, obviously,
02:34but it's spring.
02:35But just the physique and the confidence, it's a different guy completely.
02:39And I don't think you can understate how different it is.
02:43And you mentioned feel good.
02:44And I think that's the theme here, especially, you know, for a player, as you mentioned, that just had so
02:48much on his shoulders as a top high school pick.
02:50And again, really good start to his professional career as well.
02:54And it felt like really the last two years with injuries mixed in, you know, has been the letting out
03:00steam kind of period.
03:01Then you go to the Harding story and there's some stuff that I even missed.
03:06And I think it was in just the scope of the season fell between the cracks where I didn't even
03:11realize.
03:11I think maybe a lot of people didn't realize, you know, how much was going on with Veen.
03:15And I know one of the things that was mentioned in the story was even his double celebration, which kind
03:20of took a nod to some of the things that he was struggling with and almost normalizing it in that
03:24celebration there.
03:25And the Rockings did a really good job of keeping this under, you know, I guess, keeping it private and
03:31managing it privately.
03:32Right. He went to the complex for a little bit.
03:34I think they referred to it as a timeout at one point.
03:36But you can only do so much as a team.
03:38But it seems like that story, you know, was kept quiet until they found the solution here.
03:44And it seems like the Rockies have been supportive through this process.
03:47I'm just curious if you can add any more color to that, because clearly no one outside of the Rockies
03:51realm really knew what was going on with Zach Veen.
03:53Well, and those of us who covered the team every day didn't even realize what was going on.
03:57We just thought that there was a lot of stress from the young man.
04:00There was a lack of confidence.
04:02You know, don't forget, it was right here in Scottsdale last year during spring training.
04:06He hits the home run.
04:07He does the bat flip.
04:09Bud Black looks at him like, what are you doing?
04:12And all of a sudden, we all started wondering, are the Rockies going to put the shackles on his personality?
04:17You know, he's got the purple hair.
04:19All these things that really, to be perfectly frank, went against what Bud Black was as a manager.
04:25And so I think the timing of that, what he was going through, and again, as you said, how he
04:31kept it behind the scenes.
04:33I talked to one of the people quoted in the article, Chris Forbes, who's the Rockies farm director.
04:38I talked to Chris today, and I was just saying the same thing.
04:42How did we not know?
04:43I mean, you all did a really good job of keeping this, and he said, that's because we have to
04:47care about the person as much as the player.
04:50Yeah.
04:50And, I mean, he's spot on, because I think to have that come out last year, with everything else going
04:56on with Zach Bean, could he have handled it?
04:59I don't know.
04:59But this year, with Schaefer here as the manager, everything else going on, it feels like it's just that 180
05:05-degree turn.
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