How much can Coors Field cover up for a hitter’s limitations? And how much can it hide a pitcher’s greatness? Those are the key questions facing Fantasy Baseball players looking to make a big splash on waivers this week, as the top two players available are both recently promoted Rockies top prospects: Outfielder Zac Veen and pitcher Chase Dollander.

And, right off the top, it’s worth noting that Dollander is clearly the better prospect of the two. He was a consensus top-25 prospect in baseball entering the season, with Baseball America ranking him eighth overall; Veen, on the other hand, wasn’t a top-100 prospect on any major publication’s preseason list entering the season, last appearing in 2023 before injuries derailed his path to the majors. When it comes to talent, I don’t think anyone would quibble with me saying Veen is in a different class.

Translation: Fueled by the effects of Coors Field, predicting which of these players will rise to the challenge is no easy matter.

And if you want to argue that should be all that matters, that Dollander should clearly be the top waiver-wire priority, I get it. Predicting the performance of young guys is incredibly hard, but betting on talent when the gap is as big as it seems to be between these two is probably the right call. And it would be an easy call to make if they played for any other team in the majors.

But we’re talking about the most extreme environment in baseball here. Coors Field isn’t a good place to hit because it has hitter-friendly dimensions, like Cincinnati’s Great American Ballpark; on the contrary, Coors Field has, on average, the deepest fences in the majors! But the ball literally moves differently there; pitches don’t get as sharp a break in the thin air in Denver, and that same thin air also doesn’t drag the ball down as much when hitters hit in. Add in that the outfielders have to cover more ground thanks to those deep fences, and it’s a perfect storm to create the best hitting environment in baseball, even after the introduction of humidors to store the baseball.

Translation: In baseball parlance, Coors Field is the ultimate test for young talent trying to maximize their potential.

Is that enough to tilt things back Veen’s way?

Not for me. Dollander has his work cut out for him playing half his games at Coors Field, but the thing is: Half his games won’t be at Coors Field, too! And he might just be a must-start pitcher there, as he showed by limiting the Padres to two runs over 5.2 innings of work in San Diego Saturday. He made a couple of mistakes, so he wasn’t perfect, but Dollander did strike out seven against a lineup that rarely strikes out, making his 10 swinging strikes on 93 pitches look even better. I think Dollander is going to be useful in the right situations, at the very least.

Whereas with Veen, while playing half his games at Coors Field should help, that’s no guarantee. He played in an extremely friendly offensive environment at Triple-A last season and still hit .220/.281/.476, and we just have a very limited track record where Veen has truly hit like a difference-maker – injuries have played a part in that, but it’s still true that his minor-league track record does not suggest he’ll be an immediate star.

Translation: The stakes are high for these two prospects, with their returns potentially reshaping the Rockies’ season and Fantasy statistics alike.