The Rockies made it official: Edouard Julien is designated for assignment, and Zac Veen is back in the big leagues. It's a swap that says a lot about where this Colorado season has landed with 2 months left on the calendar and nothing but pride and roster experimentation left to play for.
Julien's time in Colorado never got off the ground. The Rockies acquired him from the Twins over the offseason in a deal that also brought pitcher Pierson Ohl to Colorado for prospect Jace Kaminska, and the trade has been a disaster on every front — Kaminska's still rehabbing Tommy John surgery, Ohl needed his own procedure this spring, and now Julien's been cut loose after hitting just.208/.322/.292 with 3 homers in 276 plate appearances. A 14.1% walk rate kept him from being a total zero, but a near-26% strikeout rate and shaky defense made the decision easy.
Veen, meanwhile, gets another crack after a rough 2025 debut that saw him go 4-for-34 with 14 strikeouts in 12 games. The former first-round pick answered that failure the only way that matters — by mashing at Triple-A Albuquerque. He's hitting.327/.402/.635 with 24 homers, 87 RBI and 18 steals across 100 games for the Isotopes this year, numbers that made this call-up feel inevitable rather than surprising.
The move drops Veen into a crowded Colorado outfield picture alongside Cole Carrigg, Jordan Beck, Jake McCarthy and Mickey Moniak — hardly a clear runway, but at 24 he still has an option remaining beyond this season, so there's no urgency clock forcing a verdict just yet. For a rebuilding club with little left to play for in the standings, this is exactly the kind of audition that matters more than the scoreboard.
For Julien, it's an uncertain next step. DFA doesn't mean released — Colorado has a week to trade him, work out a waiver claim, or outright him to the minors — but at 27 with a swing-and-miss problem that followed him from Minnesota, another team will have to see something worth betting on. Either way, the Rockies' fantasy-relevant answer at second base just became a question mark, while Veen's stock just got its biggest bump in years.