DENVER -- Before bundling up in a light cobalt long-sleeve base layer and a black balaclava that exposed only his eyes when he was playing defense on Friday night, Rockies shortstop Ezequiel Tovar described his game as slowly warming.
“I feel good,” Tovar said before the Rockies’ 7-1 loss to the Dodgers at Coors Field, where the gametime temperature was 35 degrees. “My timing is good. My body feels good. Sometimes, I have bad ABs, but I can have a next one.
“But I’m still learning about that. My mindset is I get another at-bat. Maybe I can drive in a run to tie the game and get a lead. If I strike out four times in a row, I can’t let that change my focus.”
For a Rockies team that’s been largely wandering in the wilderness for seven straight losing seasons now, Tovar is trying to serve as the magnetic needle -- the part of the compass that points the way. His immense talent in 2024 netted him a National League Gold Glove Award and a doubles title (45).
If last year proved anything, it’s that the Rockies are lost without Tovar. With Tovar missing large stretches because of left hip and left oblique injuries, the team went 43-119 in one of the worst seasons in the MLB’s Modern Era.
It’s expected to take time for the Rockies to find the right direction. At 24, Tovar may have been a hero for champion Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic and may be considered a budding star, but he’s trying to find a sure path for himself.
After going 1-for-3 on Friday, Tovar is slashing .237/.275/.382 with one home run and six RBIs, so he isn’t exactly carrying the 7-13 Rockies. But some signs point to bigger production with any improvement in his consistency.
Tovar’s Statcast “expected statistics” suggest the actual numbers could be better.
In terms of the launch angle sweet spot percentage (meaning the ideal trajectory coming off the bat for line drives and fly balls), he ranks in the 99th percentile -- only 1 percent of MLB players are more consistent. His expected batting average was .282 and expected slugging percentage was .463. Both would have been top-30 figures in the NL at the end of last season.
In Friday’s seventh inning, Tovar knocked his eighth double of the season for one of the Rockies’ two hits in seven innings from Tyler Glasnow and two innings from Jack Dreyer. Tovar’s “Double Impact” initiative through his Loaded Bases Foundation is contributing $1,000 for each double (matched by the Colorado Rockies Baseball Club Foundation) for childhood healthcare in Denver and Colorado.
But Tovar’s career-long quest to improve his selectivity continues. He’s in the first percentile of chase percentage, with high swing-and-miss and strikeout rates. There are struggles with runners in scoring position (.188). While he had three doubles during the team’s just-completed 1-6 road trip, he went 5-for-27 (.185).
Tovar can’t help the offense to its feet, because he’s still taking baby steps.
The difference between feast and famine lies mainly on the thin line between the breaking pitch on the outer part of the plate the right-handed hitting Tovar drives to right-center for doubles and the one that entices an empty swing.
“In Houston, he did a better job,” Rockies hitting coach Brett Pill said. "That’s going to take some time and practice in the cage, knowing where to look.
“There are some other things where he’s missing a little too many fastballs right now than he should be. But the at-bats have been good. He hit the ball to right-center tonight. But we’re going to get him swinging at the right pitches, and when he gets a good fastball to not foul it off.”
Tovar concentrated on injury areas last offseason and reported with greater overall strength. With the season going, Pill said the Rockies have spotted behind-the-scenes ideas that will allow him to improve his lower-half movements -- which could “put him in a better spot to be able to adjust to the off-speed and hit the fastball.”
Tovar doesn’t want to be babied through the process.
This is where hitting it off with current Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer has helped. The two of them clicked during Tovar’s first Major League Spring Training in 2023, when Schaeffer was Colorado’s third-base coach and infield instructor.
“He’s trying to help everybody, trying to help me,” Tovar said. “I love him because he’s trying to push me, trying to get me to my highest level. He’s like, ‘I don’t know. You made a good play -- you can do better next time. I like it.”
One way for Tovar to lead is to be willing to be shown the way.
“I noticed it early on: Tovie wants to get to the next level,” Schaeffer said. “He’s told me before, ‘Hey, you see something? Coach me.’ I said, ‘All right. You want it, you got it.’
“The great players all gravitate toward good coaches. I’m not saying I’m a good coach, but Tovie knows that he has a lot to work on -- even defensively. He wants to get better, and that’s what great players want.”