Can Ezequiel Tovar take the next steps forward in 2024 and become the next great Rockies shortstop?

In a fairly new franchise, the Rockies have had a pretty solid list of shortstops spend some time in the Mile High City. Turning back the clock with shortstop and former manager, Walt Weiss, who had a solid four year run with the Rockies in the late 90's. The early 2000's saw a future regular in the big leagues and an above average bat man the spot before being sent to Chicago. Juan Uribe only played in 314 games with the Rockies, but it just goes to show how good of hands the position has been in.

There was no better run (other than maybe the Packers going from Favre to Rodgers) than the Rockies having Tulowitzki and Trevor Story manning the spot from 2006 through the 2021 season. The Rockies may have struck gold yet again with their top international signing from the 2017 class.

Tovar was a glove first shortstop who didn't even make the Rockies top 30 prospect list (according to MLB Pipeline) until 2020. He started to really impress with the hit tool flying through the minor leagues and making his debut in 2023.

Check out some highlights from Tovar's breakout 2023 season, courtesy of NicksHighlights

Tovar's debut season went really well, fans got a taste of just how special Tovar can be; and there is still a lot of room for him to improve as well. Tovar had a pretty solid season offensively on the surface, though his 70 wRC+ leaves a lot to be desired. His strikeout rate was a little high, and his walk rate was pretty low, but these aren't really things he has struggled with in the minor leagues; let's give him some grace, he was just 21 years old last year. He still hit 15 home runs and stole 11 bases as a key cog at the top of the Rockies lineup.

Where Tovar flashed was on his defense, he is truly one of the elite defenders in the game and should be a perennial gold glove level defender. He grades out as one of the top two or three shortstops in all of baseball in pretty much every defensive metric.

In 2024, Tovar will have another year under his belt; he will look to capture his first gold glove in what could be a very talented infield group. He will surely look to control the zone a bit more and look to increase the walk rate while cutting back on the strikeouts a little bit. Having a more experienced and talented middle of the lineup behind him should add some protection and allow Tovar really to take some steps forward offensively. We are looking at the next era of great Rockies shortstops, and Tovar might be the best defensive one of them all, so enjoy the show he puts on!

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