The shortstop won a Gold Glove and demonstrated his power
Welcome to the 2024 edition of Ranking the Rockies, where we take a look back at every player to log playing time for the Rockies in 2024. The purpose of this list is to provide a snapshot of the player in context. The “Ranking” is an organizing principle that’s drawn from Baseball Reference’s WAR (rWAR). It’s not something the staff debated. We’ll begin with the player with the lowest rWAR and end up with the player with the highest.
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No. 2, Ezequiel Tovar, 3.7 rWAR
Ezequiel Tovar’s rise to stardom has been as impressive as it has been fast.
When he was just a 16-year-old kid playing baseball in Maracay, Venezuela, Tovar signed with the Colorado Rockies. Four years later, in 2021, he was playing Single-A ball and by the end of the 2022 season, at 21 years and 53 days old, he made his MLB debut as the youngest in Rockies history.
In his rookie campaign in 2023, Tovar hit .253/.287/.408 in 153 games with 15 homers, 73 RBI and tied Todd Helton’s franchise-best mark of 37 doubles as a rookie. His range, arm, .988 fielding percentage and 2.2 defensive WAR (No. 6 in NL) was good enough to be named a National League Gold Glove finalist.
His potential soared so high that the Rockies signed the shortstop to a 7-year, $63.5 million deal just before the 2024 season opened.
Tovar not only didn’t disappoint in his sophomore season, but he played even better. His performance made him the second-best player on the team by WAR and cemented him as the face and foundation of the franchise moving forward.
His defense generated countless highlight reels on his way to a Gold Glove, becoming the youngest shortstop in NL history to win the award. He led all MLB shortstops in assists (435), double plays (107), total chances (676) and ultimate zone rating (11.2).
Offensively, Tovar improved his slashline to .269/.295/.469 and flashed his power, hitting 42% more homers than in 2023. He started the season batting seventh in the lineup, but by the 10th game of the year, he moved to the No. 2 spot. He batted second in 98 games and hit leadoff in 43, earning his way to the top of the lineup with more ability to be the fuel to an offense that needed a spark.
Throughout his time in the farm system, Tovar, still growing and developing, had a promise of more power to come. It arrived in 2024 when the 6-foot, 162-pounder pushed his homers from 15 to 26 and his doubles from 37 to 45 while playing in 157 games.
While most of his progress was forward, Tovar did increase his strikeouts in 2024. He finished with 200, which was second-most in all of baseball behind only Elly De La Cruz’s 218. That equates to 28.8% of his at-bats ending in strikeouts. Swinging at 48% of first pitches, Tovar’s aggression could benefit from a little more pickiness and patience at the plate. Despite 80 more plate appearances in 2024 compared to 2023, he walked only 23 times instead of 25 like he did in 2023.
Locked in through 2030, Tovar is the future of the Rockies. While it’s unrealistic to expect the drastic improvement in power and performance Tovar produced from 2023 to 2024, if Tovar can find a way to sustain his numbers, lower his strikeouts and keep up his amazing defense, he’s likely to have more Gold Gloves and perhaps some All-Star bids in his future.
If more players can join him, he could lead the next generation that guides the Rockies back to winning.
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