{"id":852082,"date":"2026-11-12T21:54:16","date_gmt":"2026-11-12T21:54:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/852082\/"},"modified":"2026-11-12T21:54:16","modified_gmt":"2026-11-12T21:54:16","slug":"ezequiel-tovars-plunging-numbers-raise-a-hard-question-for-the-rockies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/852082\/","title":{"rendered":"Ezequiel Tovar\u2019s Plunging Numbers Raise a Hard Question for the Rockies"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"8e\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/mlb\/rockies\/onsi\/colorado-rockies-infielder-becomes-free-agent\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Colorado Rockies<\/a> shortstop <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/mlb\/rockies\/onsi\/rockies-bring-ezequiel-tovar-back-lineup-against-cardinals-lefty\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Ezequiel Tovar<\/a> will be facing his most important season next year.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"8j\">His struggles are leaving the organization with questions about what to do with him if the bleeding doesn&#8217;t stop.<\/p>\n<p>Make or Break 2027 Season<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/01m78kb6dnzsn70wr3t9.jpg\" alt=\"Colorado Rockies infielder Ezequiel Tovar\" title=\"Colorado Rockies infielder Ezequiel Tovar\" width=\"360\" height=\"203\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"90\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Colorado Rockies infielder Ezequiel Tovar throws to first Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"96\">The 25-year-old is a defensive magician. There&#8217;s nothing to worry about defensively. What the Rockies want to see is that elite status on the plate as well. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/mlb\/rockies\/onsi\/gold-glove-infielder-ezequiel-tovar-finding-rhythm-for-rockies\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tovar<\/a> tends to chase bad pitches. He still doesn&#8217;t have strong plate discipline.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"9b\">Front office personnel don&#8217;t have much patience for a player who is not showing up. If Tovar can&#8217;t stay durable and produce at the plate, he could see himself get demoted or traded and have someone else take his spot. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"9g\">Tovar is a very talented player out of Venezuela. He&#8217;s gifted. Colorado likely doesn\u2019t want to give up on him. Does the team need to bring in a great hitting coach or someone who can help him with his hitting approach?<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"9l\">At this point, they need to do whatever it takes to get Tovar going. Colorado wants him to become a much better player. Yes, there are other guys they need to worry about as well. Granted, the Rockies are not a top market franchise. They can&#8217;t just sign anybody they want. Therefore, they want their current core guys to step up. Tovar is at the top of that list for players to step up next season.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"9q\">Tovar finished 2026 with 13 homers, 44 RBI while batting .219 in 146 games. Next season, he needs to take it up a notch by reaching at least 25 home runs, 90 RBIs and slash numbers like .280 and a .900 OPS. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"9v\">If he&#8217;s healthy, then there&#8217;s no excuse for him not to put up those numbers. We saw a glimpse of it during the 2024 season.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"a0\">He will be entering his sixth season, all with the Rockies. Everyone seems to enjoy playing alongside him. Tovar is playing under the leadership of a manager who is a player-coach and instills confidence and support in his players. If the Rockies are going to avoid another 100-loss season, then Tovar has to be one of the reasons they step up their game.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"a5\">Tovar made his debut with the Rockies in 2022. Time has gone by so fast. There have been some terrific moments between Tovar and the franchise, but the fans want to be satisfied with what he can do in a brand-new season. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-12\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"aa\">The pressure is on. No consistency, no high-paying contract.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.minutemediacdn.com\/platform\/google_discover_icon.svg\" class=\"shrink-0\"\/>Add us as a preferred source on Google<a aria-label=\"Follow si.com on Google News\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=si.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" preventdefault:click=\"\" class=\"flex h-[30px] w-[30px] shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full bg-primary font-group-large text-sm font-medium text-white transition-colors hover:bg-secondary focus:bg-secondary md:w-auto md:gap-2.5 md:px-4 md:py-[5px]\" on:click=\"q-D1zOMIPP.js#s_lDqay9E5m5g[0]\" q:id=\"ag\">Follow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Colorado Rockies shortstop Ezequiel Tovar will be facing his most important season next year. His struggles are leaving&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":852083,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2405],"tags":[5,167,52,4316,4,168],"class_list":["post-852082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-colorado-rockies","tag-baseball","tag-colorado","tag-colorado-rockies","tag-coloradorockies","tag-mlb","tag-rockies"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/117605700034921916","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=852082"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852082\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/852083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=852082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=852082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=852082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}