Sep. 22: The Rockies have officially announced Tovar’s promotion. In a corresponding move, infielder Brendan Rodgers will be placed on the 10-day IL with a left hamstring strain, retroactive to September 19. With only 13 games left in Colorado’s schedule, Rodgers may be sidelined for the rest of 2022.
Sep. 21: The Rockies are going to promote shortstop prospect Ezequiel Tovar, according to Daniel Álvarez-Montes of El Extrabase. Tovar is already on the club’s 40-man roster, though the Rockies will need to open a spot for him on the active roster.
Tovar, 21, signed with the Rockies as an international amateur in 2017. He was certainly a notable signing at the time, agreeing to a bonus of $800K, the highest given out by the club that year. But the youngster has increased his stock tremendously in recent years.
Through the end of the 2019 season, he had shown some decent plate discipline but little power. He hit only two long balls over 118 games in rookie ball and A-ball in 2018 and 2019. However, as Baseball America notes in their scouting report on Tovar, he bulked up during the pandemic shutdown in 2020 and has been on a meteoric rise up prospect lists ever since. He began this year in Double-A and played 66 games for the Hartford Yard Goats. In that time, he hit 13 home runs, stole 17 bases and hit .318/.386/.545 for a wRC+ of 153. He was recently promoted to Triple-A but only got into four games before being launched up to the big time.
Tovar already had a strong reputation for his speed, bat-to-ball skills and shortstop defense, which means the development of his power at the plate has the potential to turn him into an all-around superstar. Based on his tremendous breakout, he’s shot up to the #13 slot on Baseball America’s list of top prospects in the league, #28 at MLB Pipeline, #36 at FanGraphs, #25 on Keith Law’s list at The Athletic and #40 at ESPN.
For the Rockies, they have a legitimate opening at shortstop for the first time in a long time. Troy Tulowitzki manned the position from 2006 until his trade in 2015. That was followed by the Trevor Story era, which lasted until he reached free agency just under a year ago. This year, the club signed Jose Iglesias to take over, but only on a one-year deal. He’s been on the IL the past few weeks, with utility player Alan Trejo taking over. Tovar will have the last few weeks of the season to show the Colorado brass how he handles the big leagues, with the possibility of cementing himself as the shortstop of the future. Though the club is well out of contention at this point of the season, the chance to see what Tovar can bring to the table will give Colorado fans something to watch as the season winds down.
If Tovar can indeed earn himself a permanent spot with the big league club, there could be some domino effects. There’s not enough time remaining in the season for Tovar to get to 130 at-bats, meaning he will hang onto rookie/prospect status into the offseason. Under the new collective bargaining agreement, players with less than 60 days of service who appear among two preseason Top 100 lists at Baseball America, ESPN or MLB Pipeline can net their team a bonus amateur draft choice based on their early-career finishes in awards voting, so long as their club carries them on the MLB roster for a full service year. If Tovar can get himself a Rookie of the Year award or some MVP votes during his first couple of full seasons, he could net the club an extra draft pick.
Wow, shocked tbh. He was just about the hottest hitter/fielder in the minors (at AA) before getting hurt and losing a few months. Been back a bit now (at AAA too) but the Rockies aren’t often known for promoting young guys aggressively, so people were very low on the prospects of him getting much MLB next year, much less this season.
Thanks Toasty for providing the only relevant insight on this post. Tovar had a great spring and despite his age it really opened up the door for him this season. With strong AA numbers and if not for the injury I’m surprised he wasn’t called up sooner. I don’t see the rockies making a splash at SS this offseason when Tovar is clearly the answer going forward. Let him sink or swim show the league what he’s made of and benefit on the lack of pop in his bat by playing in a ballpark that will work wonders on him. Don’t sleep on this kid. Might be the best decision this organization has made in the last 5 years heck maybe 10. It’s a shame Bud Black has something to say about his playtime though.
Let him sink or swim show the league what he’s made of
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He just turned 21, and has virtually no AAA experience. He is 2-3 years away from sink-or-swim, Sink-or-swim is the process that the Angels used with Adell & Marsh, and it did not end well.
What is your name? What!? What is your name? Tony! F you Tony. What’s your name!?n Ezekquel. F you Ezekquel!
I know it’s not the exact name same but close enough
Logjammer, are you aware that you were a crack baby? If not, now you know young man.
No I wasn’t. I wish I was as young as you.
I guess that joke went over your head and you likely don’t have an Instagram
So effing stupid. Gimme a break. Your jokes are dog doo doo! I know a crack baby when I read ones comments. GTFO of here with that garbage!
Nonsense like that is one (of the many) reasons i don’t have Instagram (or any other social media)
First off it’s a well known video. With or without IG there’s gotta be somewhere you’ve seen it. Sorry to trigger you.
Several videos have been around for several years now. First thing that pops in my head when I see the name Ezekiel, whatever the spelling is of the name. They are funny videos 🙂
I have no idea what you are talking about, and I know WAY too much about pop culture, so it’s probably not THAT well known.
After a nice season overall in Denver it looks like Iglesias is one his way to what will be his 7th team in 6 seasons
Related to Cesar?
Trade Detroit for Baez!
Get a good.deal on a superstar……
I bet the active roster move will be Rodgers to the IL. He’s already missed the last couple of games after tweaking something.
Might as well see how the youngster and possible future star handles the challenge.
Seems logical. I don’t really think it matters because the Rockies have played like they are already in the offseason. No passion whatsoever.
Tovar is listed as a switch hitter on Baseball Reference. The article says he is a switch hitter. All the video I’ve watched show him ONLY hitting righthanded.
He started out as a switch hitter, but dropped being a lefty a couple years back. He is exclusively a right handed hitter now.
Hopefully, the Rox don’t give him away like they did with a
Tulo and Story (and Arenado!!!).
They got a fair trade return for Tulo. You can’t blame them for the prospects not panning out as planned, Jeff Hoffman was a decent contributor for a few years. Miguel Castro just couldn’t pitch at altitude but he has developed into a fine big league reliever elsewhere. And the whole Jose Reyes DV matter didn’t help either.
The return on Story will 100% depend on the development of Sterlin Thompson, the comp pick received for not trading Story. Although in a small sample size, he is OPSing .880 in low A right now. So who knows?
Arenado just needed to go. Simple as that. I am happy with anything in return for him.
Amazing. A major rehaul, revamping and reorganization is needed. No team with so much talent has done so badly. Yes they have had rocky times, but they have embraced the word beyond normal.
“So much talent”??????? That’s not what I see.
The team is mostly made up of AAAA players and minor league signings. The All Star on the team this year is CJ Cron who signed a minor league deal. He’s a decent player and all, but if he is the best on the team, you don’t have a good team.