Ezequiel

Tovar

It’s pretty incredible that Tovar has been this solid with the entire league knowing that there’s absolutely no reason to ever throw him a pitch within the strike zone. He’s currently hitting .266/.293/.469 with 25 homers. If only he’d decided to steal 25 bases, too, he’d be quite a bit more famous.

Tovar got the Rockies on the board with a solo homer off Merrill Kelly in the sixth inning. The 23-year-old has homered three times in what has been a disappointing September, but he does now have a solid 24 homers on the year. This has been an uneven year to say the least for Tovar, but more than enough good to suggest he’s on his way to being a strong fantasy option for the next several years.

Tovar’s home run was his 22nd of the season. He hit a solo shot off Reynaldo Lopez in the sixth inning. The stolen base was his sixth of the season. Tovar had been struggling. He was hitting .190 with three home runs in 29 games since the beginning of August. Tovar is hitting .270 with a .762 OPS and 64 RBI on the year.

Tover badly needed this one. The 23-year-old is in the midst of a brutal month of August that has seen him hit .178 with 32 strikeouts in 21 games heading into tonight. However, facing Roddery Muñoz may have been the cure. Tover hit a solo home run off of him in the first inning and then followed that up with a two-run homer in the second inning. He’s now up to 21 home runs on the season and with an entire week at Coors Field coming up, he could turn around his August numbers.

The Rockies were shut out by Carlos Rodón and the Yankees’ bullpen in this one as Tovar accounted for their only extra-base hit and he and Jordan Beck were their only players to reach base twice. His walk was interesting, just his 18th of the season as his 3.2 BB% is tied with Cedanne Rafaela for the lowest by any qualified player in the majors.

Tovar put the Rockies on the board in the first inning with a solo homer off Paul Blackburn. The 23-year-old shortstop is up to 19 homers on the season while hitting .281/.304/.478 with 61 runs scored, 54 RBI, and four steals across 496 plate appearances.

Pitchers just can’t seem to sufficiently exploit Tovar’s tendency to swing at absolutely everything., He has a 39/2 K/BB in his last 28 games, but his numbers have held up anyway. The only disappointment here is that he’s a mere 4-for-8 stealing bases this season.

Tovar’s recent hot streak continued on Wednesday afternoon at Coors Field as he kicked off Colorado’s eventual 20-run outburst with a first-inning solo shot -- his 17th big fly of the season -- off Red Sox starter Nick Pivetta. He also plated an additional run in the ensuing frame with a run-scoring single as part of a three-hit effort. The 22-year-old shortstop has been sizzling hot of late, hitting .328 (22-for-67) with five homers and 12 RBI over his last 15 games. He’s going to strike out a ton, but he’s hitting for a ton of over-the-fence pop with a palatable batting average at the moment.

Tovar also had a chance to win the game in the 11th, but he struck out then. He came through with two outs and the bases loaded in the 12th after the Rockies had previously tied the game on a Jake Cave single. The Red Sox might not have needed to face him then, but sometimes you just have to intentionally walk Jacob Stallings and Aaron Schunk in order to “improve your chances.”

The hard-hitting 22-year-old shortstop broke a 2-2 tie when he demolished a first-pitch sweeper from Logan Webb for a 455-foot (109.1-mph EV) two-run blast. He also singled and scored a run during the Rockies’ two-run rally in the opening inning. Tovar finished the night 2-for-4 and is now slashing .278/.305/.476 with 16 homers and 46 RBI on the season.