Future is bright for Rockies — and Isotopes
Shortstop Tovar part of highly rated Colorado farm system
As Karl Kauffmann hurled the first pitch at Isotopes Park on Friday night, the host team sat 17 games back in its division, and the parent club Colorado Rockies were 37 games back in the National League West.
The present may not be pristine for either team, but there is reason to believe the future, at long last, could offer some hope.
Two national outlets have recently ranked the Colorado Rockies’ farm system in the Top 10 in baseball — a spot not seen in recent years.
And for the TripleA Albuquerque Isotopes, a glimpse of that promising future is already here.
The organization’s No. 2 prospect — 21-year-old shortstop Ezequiel Tovar of Venezuela — got called up to the Isotopes for Thursday’s game and made his second start Friday night after rapidly progressing through the lower levels of the Rockies system.
“He’s a stud. I swear it was every game in Hartford he would do something cool,” said Isotopes teammate Jimmy Herron, who played 54 games earlier this season alongside Tovar at DoubleA Hartford. “Defensively, with his glove, he’s amazing.”
Herron also played pregame psychic. In the third inning Friday night, Tovar launched a 443-foot home run off the scoreboard in left field — just a couple hours after Herron said: “(With the way the) ball travels here, I’m sure he’ll put one or two off the scoreboard at some point.”
The Friday night game with visiting Oklahoma City was ongoing at press time. The two teams resume their series Saturday at noon.
Tovar had been sidelined since June with a groin injury. He rehabbed in Den
ver, played a few games in Arizona and now is ready to get his feet wet in Albuquerque, where he’s well aware of the ballparks batter-friendly reputation.
“It doesn’t matter where I play. The approach needs to stay the same,” said Tovar in Spanish, through the interpretation of Isotopes bench coach Pedro Lopez, though Tovar speaks English well.
“The toughest thing to do is to make contact. I’m not going to change my approach. I don’t look at the ballpark being high altitude and the ball flying like Denver —I just want to keep the same approach I had before I got here. Make sure I make solid contact.”
While the bat is certainly part of the equation — he hit .318 in 66 games at Hartford with 13 home runs, 47 RBIs and stole 17 bases — its Tovar’s glove that has many saying he’s big-league ready.
“He’s smooth as a shortstop,” Isotopes manager Warren Schaeffer said. “He’s a natural shortstop, which you don’t see too often these days. His defense is what stands out to me.”
Jim Bowden, former general manager for the Cincinnati Reds and Washington Nationals who now is a national writer for The Athletic, released his Top 50 prospects list (all players who have not yet been up to the majors) on Aug. 25.
In it, he ranked Tovar the 30th top prospect in baseball, writing: “His future has Gold Glove written all over it. There’s no doubt he’s going to hit for average, and he’s added strength to his 6-foot frame over the past year. He is major-league ready.”
But Tovar wasn’t the only Rockies player on Bowden’s or other prospect lists. Zac Veen, for instance, is a 20-year-old outfielder playing in Hartford who is the organization’s top prospect and was ranked No. 2 in all of baseball on Bowden’s list last month. All indications are he’ll be an Isotope in 2023.
The Rockies’ farm system in the past month was ranked No. 10 by Baseball America and No. 9 by MLB Pipeline, which ranked them No. 24 entering this season.
But the organization seems to have hit on several draft picks, some of them developing into budding stars.
“That’s good to see, man,” Schaeffer said. “I mean, kudos to our scouts for drafting the right guys. Kudos to the player development for getting them right. It’s always a combination.”