Zac Veen set to make his major league debut with the Colorado Rockies

DENVER (AP) — When Zac Veen was 12 years old, he would ride his bike for 5 miles to Spruce Creek High School in Port Orange, Florida, so he could practice with the varsity baseball team.

Spruce Creek coach Johnny Goodrich welcomed Veen, and he became a staple at the practices.

“I kind of just started showing up and Goodrich brought me in, and never really said no,” the 23-year-old Veen said.

A decade later, Veen is making his major league debut with the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday night against the Milwaukee Brewers. The organization's top hitting prospect is playing right field and batting seventh in the lineup.

“This feels very surreal right now and very normal at the same time,” Veen said three hours before first pitch.

Veen was selected by Colorado with the No. 9 pick in the 2020 amateur draft. He received a $5 million signing bonus.

His progression to the majors was slowed by injuries the past two seasons. He had season-ending wrist surgery in 2023. He was hampered by a lower back strain and a thumb injury last year.

But Veen played well in spring training with Colorado and then got off to a fast start with Triple-A Albuquerque. He went 5 for 5 with a home run and four RBIs in a 14-3 victory over Salt Lake on Saturday.

He was batting .387 for the Isotopes when he was brought up by the Rockies.

“I feel like I learned a lot down there,” he said. “Everything happens for a reason. Might not have been the worst thing.”

The first call he made after he was informed of his promotion was to his mom, and he told her she was coming to Denver.

Veen said he will have at least 10 friends and family in the stands for his debut. It marks another anticipated moment for Colorado after Chase Dollander — the ninth overall pick in the 2023 draft — pitched five innings in a win over the Athletics in his major league debut on Sunday.

“We’ve talked a lot about getting some young guys to the big leagues, to get them exposure, to see what they can do,” manager Bud Black said. “We’ve done that the last couple years. This is just another guy coming. I thought Zac had a good spring training. He swung the bat well, he’s healthy. That’s the main thing.”

Veen took batting practice Tuesday at Coors Field for the first time. He said that helped calm his nerves ahead of the game.

“(They’re) a lot better after hitting on the field,” he said.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB

Colorado Rockies right field prospect Zac Veen, who was called up from Triple-A affiliate Albuquerque, warms up before appearing in his first Major League Baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers, Tuesday, April 8, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Colorado Rockies right field prospect Zac Veen, who was called up from Triple-A affiliate Albuquerque, warms up before appearing in his first Major League Baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers, Tuesday, April 8, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Colorado Rockies right field prospect Zac Veen, right, who was called up from Triple-A affiliate Albuquerque, chats with manager Bud Black before appearing appearing in his first Major League Baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers, Tuesday, April 8, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Colorado Rockies right field prospect Zac Veen, who was called up from Triple-A affiliate Albuquerque, warms up before appearing in his first Major League Baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers, Tuesday, April 8, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

ALEPPO, Syria (AP) — First responders on Sunday entered a contested neighborhood in Syria’ s northern city of Aleppo after days of deadly clashes between government forces and Kurdish-led forces. Syrian state media said the military was deployed in large numbers.

The clashes broke out Tuesday in the predominantly Kurdish neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud, Achrafieh and Bani Zaid after the government and the Syrian Democratic Forces, the main Kurdish-led force in the country, failed to make progress on how to merge the SDF into the national army. Security forces captured Achrafieh and Bani Zaid.

The fighting between the two sides was the most intense since the fall of then-President Bashar Assad to insurgents in December 2024. At least 23 people were killed in five days of clashes and more than 140,000 were displaced amid shelling and drone strikes.

The U.S.-backed SDF, which have played a key role in combating the Islamic State group in large swaths of eastern Syria, are the largest force yet to be absorbed into Syria's national army. Some of the factions that make up the army, however, were previously Turkish-backed insurgent groups that have a long history of clashing with Kurdish forces.

The Kurdish fighters have now evacuated from the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood to northeastern Syria, which is under the control of the SDF. However, they said in a statement they will continue to fight now that the wounded and civilians have been evacuated, in what they called a “partial ceasefire.”

The neighborhood appeared calm Sunday. The United Nations said it was trying to dispatch more convoys to the neighborhoods with food, fuel, blankets and other urgent supplies.

Government security forces brought journalists to tour the devastated area, showing them the damaged Khalid al-Fajer Hospital and a military position belonging to the SDF’s security forces that government forces had targeted.

The SDF statement accused the government of targeting the hospital “dozens of times” before patients were evacuated. Damascus accused the Kurdish-led group of using the hospital and other civilian facilities as military positions.

On one street, Syrian Red Crescent first responders spoke to a resident surrounded by charred cars and badly damaged residential buildings.

Some residents told The Associated Press that SDF forces did not allow their cars through checkpoints to leave.

“We lived a night of horror. I still cannot believe that I am right here standing on my own two feet,” said Ahmad Shaikho. “So far the situation has been calm. There hasn’t been any gunfire.”

Syrian Civil Defense first responders have been disarming improvised mines that they say were left by the Kurdish forces as booby traps.

Residents who fled are not being allowed back into the neighborhood until all the mines are cleared. Some were reminded of the displacement during Syria’s long civil war.

“I want to go back to my home, I beg you,” said Hoda Alnasiri.

Associated Press journalist Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed to this report.

Sandbag barriers used as fighting positions by Kurdish fighters, left inside a destroyed mosque in the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Burned vehicles at one of the Kurdish fighters positions at the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

People flee the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

A Syrian military police convoy enters the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Burned vehicles and ammunitions left at one of the Kurdish fighters positions at the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)