Ezequiel Tovar exits game with wrist strain

Tovar wound up only missing one contest after suffering a left wrist strain when he attempted to make a diving catch in shallow left field during Monday’s series opener. It appears he’ll avoid a trip to the injured list, but wrist issues tend to have an adverse impact on a hitter’s on-field performance, especially from a power perspective.

It’s a bit surprising that Tovar hasn’t hit the injured list after exiting Monday’s series opener against the Nationals with a left wrist strain. It’ll be Ryan Ritter taking over at shortstop in his absence.

Carrigg has hit a bit of a rough patch recently, hitting .230 (17-for-74) with zero homers and four steals across 20 games since the start of August. It’ll be Ezequiel Tovar handling shortstop with Mickey Moniak, Jake McCarthy and Zac Veen in the outfield for this one. The 24-year-old rookie offers enough all-around fantasy production to hang onto a roster spot in deeper mixed leagues, but can be cut loose in shallow formats with five weeks left on the calendar.

Tovar was removed from Friday night’s contest due to illness and then sat out on Saturday as he was still feeling under the weather. While his health has improved, his offensive game hasn’t, as he’s slashing a cringe-inducing .204/.251/.326 with just nine homers and 38 RBI on the season.

Tovar will take a break for the second time in the series against the D-backs. The 25-year-old will begin Wednesday’s game on the bench with Cole Carrigg handling shortstop duties.

Carrigg has batted third or higher in eight of nine games since the start of August, including seven straight since the trade deadline. The 24-year-old rookie possesses an exciting blend of fantasy-relevant skills and has gotten off to a phenomenal start in the majors, slashing .297/.385/.503 with five homers, 30 RBI and six steals in 196 plate appearances through 50 games. He’s going to be an extremely popular pick in fantasy drafts next spring.

Even though Tovar is on a long-term deal, it’s pretty crazy that the Rockies have just let him spend the year as the game’s worst regular instead of sending him down for a spell at any point. He still might have a run in him, though. He just has a lot to make up for. He entered tonight hitless in his last four games. He was 6-for-59 since his previous multihit game one month ago on July 3.

Carrigg is now up to five stolen bases on the season. The 24-year-old has been excellent in his first year of MLB action, and the three-hit night ups his slash to .305/.399/.525 slash in his 41 games. It’s time to take Carrigg seriously if you haven’t already.

It has been a brutal season offensively for the 24-year-old shortstop, hitting a paltry .199/.244/.327 with just eight homers, 32 RBI and five stolen bases in 348 plate appearances. Willi Castro will start in his place at shortstop and bat fifth against Reds’ right-hander Hunter Greene.

Carrigg didn’t start Friday in the first game after the break, sitting in favor of Tyler Freeman and Troy Johnston. Had he been in center, he probably would have done a better job on Spencer Steer’s inside-the-park homer in the eighth. Carrigg likely isn’t as good as his current .288/.371/.529 line, but it’s weird that the Rockies are still treating him as a part-timer when he’s outplaying most of the alternatives (Jake McCarthy being the exception) and he’s the one guy on their roster likely to be a part of the team’s 2028 outfield.