Tovar's triple swing is sure sign of shortstop's star potential

DENVER -- Rockies shortstop Ezequiel Tovar reached to the bottom outside corner of the strike zone in the first inning on Friday night, and drove an RBI triple the opposite way to right field against Dodgers starter Ryan Brasier during Colorado’s 11-4 loss at Coors Field.

Tovar’s penchant for driving those pitches is a reason for his 74 extra-base hits, which include 25 home runs and a National League-leading 45 doubles. Couple that with defense that by the eye test and advanced numbers should earn him his first Gold Glove Award in his second full season, and the 23-year-old Tovar is making a case for stardom.

“You don't realize how good you are until people tell you, and they keep on reminding you -- but there's also areas you know that they keep reminding you that you need to work on,” Tovar told interpreter Edwin Perez in Spanish.

“I look at the areas I need to improve, especially heading into the offseason.”

Offensively, Tovar realizes there is a fine edge between where he is and where he can reach.

The triple, which flew off his bat at 99.9 mph, according to Statcast, was at the outer edge of Tovar’s swing, and just within an approach that is middle-away, even though most of his true damage is done to the pull side.

From his Major League debut on Sept. 23, 2022, through Thursday, Tovar’s 83 doubles ranked second in the Majors, and his 325 hits were 11th in the NL.

“On that type of pitch, he's able to get extension with his arms to the barrel,” manager Bud Black said. “He's got opposite-field power. We've seen balls in the bullpen by Ezequiel. So, 23 years old, with opposite-field power and the ability to do what he did with that pitch shows the talent that he has.”

The blemish on Tovar’s stat sheet is his club single-season record 200 strikeouts. He entered Friday second in the NL in K’s behind the Reds’ Elly De La Cruz (215).

Tovar will confidently seek a solution to the strikeouts.

“There’s not one specific area that I can pinpoint, but one thing that I'm continuing trying to improve, and something that I'm continuing to work on that's been something that's been missing for me, is swinging at the right pitches in the zone,” Tovar said.

“It’s getting that right location, and not taking swings leading to the strikeouts. It’s just continuing to improve my eye.”

Many pitches look good to Tovar. He entered Friday swinging at 62.2 percent of pitches -- the highest rate among the 315 Major Leaguers who had faced at least 1,000 pitches this season. The challenge is to better discern which pitches aren’t quite juicy enough for his swing.

The difference between the 0-1 pitch from Brasier that Tovar lashed over the outstretched glove of Dodgers right fielder Mookie Betts and a whiff was maybe the width of a baseball.

“That’s the difficulty of batting -- it’s what makes it hard,” Tovar said. “There are days where I’ll be able to hit those pitches. I’ll make contact. There are days where it won’t go my way, and I’ll be unlucky. That’s the craziness of baseball.

“It depends on the pitcher. Sometimes you’ll be able to see it right out of his hand, and there are sometimes you see the spin, but you are already too far out front.”

Tovar struck out in the third, but it was on a Ben Casparius pitch in the zone. Tovar’s growth showed in the ninth, after Charlie Blackmon drew a four-pitch walk against Daniel Hudson.

“He looks to me and says, ‘What do I do?’ and I said, ‘take a strike,’” said hitting coach Hensley Meulens, who has Tovar in a continuing education program when it comes to strategy. “So the first pitch was a [called] strike [before a fly ball to left]. So we’re trying to get him to shrink the strike zone.

“He’s had a couple at-bats lately where he’s laid off that tough pitch and either drawn a walk or gotten a hit. So it’s all staying positive as we wait for him to mature.”

The Rockies must win the final two games against the Dodgers to avoid the 100-loss mark for a second straight season. But Tovar is part of a youth movement over the past two seasons that has increased the talent base.

“None of us like to lose,” Tovar said. “I always say, you take a step back, but in taking a step back, you hope you’ll move forward and progress even quicker.”