Ezequiel Tovar sat in front of his locker in a somber clubhouse on Friday night. The Rockies had blown a 6-0 lead and lost 8-6 to the Braves. There were no tunes rockin’ the room.
Tovar is mired in the worst slump of his career. He addressed his funk in measured tones and quiet candor.
“You’ve got to turn the page,” Tovar said in Spanish, with Edwin Perez interpreting. “You go through these moments. You learn from it. But when you hone in on it, that’s when it can cause issues. Tomorrow’s a new day to show what we can do.”
The 24-year-old shortstop entered Saturday night’s game vs. Atlanta batting .197 with just one home run. Over his last 18 games, he’d hit .123 (7 for 57) with one double, two RBIs, two walks, and 20 strikeouts (at a 31.3% rate).
Ever since he entered the majors in 2022, the book on Tovar — a notorious first-pitch swinger — has been to beat him with down-and-away sliders. But Tovar has usually been able to hit fastballs at a productive rate, as he did in 2024. That season, he led the National League with 45 doubles, the most by a shortstop in franchise history. He also launched 26 home runs, and his 75 extra-base hits ranked second in the NL.
But he’s consistently been beaten by fastballs this spring. He entered Saturday’s game batting .151 with a .226 slugging percentage against fastballs this spring, according to Statcast. In 2024, he hit .241 with a .402 slug vs. heaters.
“It’s the first time I’m going through that, specifically facing a slump, especially with the fastball,” Tovar said. “But I think this is also going to be a good learning aspect (for me), because the next time I go through a slump against fastballs, maybe I’ll get out of that slump quicker just learning these lessons and things that I’m going through right now.”
Manager Warren Schaeffer has slotted Tovar well down in the order this season — he hit eighth Saturday night — and Schaeffer removed Tovar for pinch-hitter Edouard Jullien in the seventh inning of Colorado’s 6-4 loss at Cincinnati on Thursday.
Schaeffer, however, said he hasn’t lost faith in Tovar, who won a Gold Glove in 2024. He has no plans to bench him. But he also knows that Tovar has to adjust his game plan at the plate. Tover’s 62.0 swing percentage and 57.5 first-pitch swing percentage are both the highest in the majors among all qualified players. His first-pitch swing percentage has jumped 10.8% from last season (46.7%).
” ‘Tovie’ looks a little in-between right now between the heater and the breaking ball,” Schaeffer said Friday. “He knows that he chases a lot. He’s working his tail off to try to not do that.
“Sometimes when you do that, you get off the heater a little bit. He’s just going through a little rough spell right now. I have complete confidence that he’s going to come out of it and get on track, because he’s too good a ballplayer not to.”
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