Colorado Rockies Shortstop Ezequiel Tovar Caps Off Historic Up-and-Down Season

Ezequiel Tovar went 0-for-4 in the Colorado Rockies' regular season finale against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday, finishing 2024 with 307 total bases, 200 strikeouts and 512 outs made.

Sep 26, 2024; Denver, Colorado, USA; Colorado Rockies shortstop Ezequiel Tovar (14) celebrates his two-run double in the ninth inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at Coors Field. / Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

Ezequiel Tovar, who has been an anomaly for the Colorado Rockies all season long, earned a fitting spot in the history books this weekend.

Tovar went 2-for-5 with a triple and an RBI against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday, following up that performance by going 3-for-4 with a home run on Saturday. In Sunday's regular season finale, however, Tovar went 0-for-4.

The 23-year-old shortstop has therefore finished 2024 with a .269 batting average, 26 home runs, 78 RBI, a .763 OPS and a 3.7 WAR. He led the National League in at-bats with 655 and doubles with 45.

Tovar also led all of MLB with 512 outs made, though, which is a combination of strikeouts, groundouts, pop outs, fly outs, double plays grounded into, sacrifice flies, sacrifice hits and caught stealings.

Underdog Fantasy's Justin Havens noted that Tovar is just the second player in the last 15 years to have at least 300 total bases and make at least 500 outs in a single season. Seattle Mariners outfielder Julio Rodríguez is the only other player to achieve the feat in that time span.

Tovar is the first shortstop to post such an extreme feast-or-famine season since José Reyes did so with the New York Mets in 2008.

Ezequiel Tovar is the 2nd player in the last 15 seasons - and the only one in 2024 - to have a year with 500+ outs made and 300+ total bases (Julio Rodriguez did it last season). He is the first shortstop to do so since José Reyes in 2008.

— nugget chef (@jayhaykid) September 30, 2024

Tovar struck out just one time in 13 at-bats against the Dodgers this past weekend, far below his previous pace of one strikeout every 3.4 plate appearances. Still, that one strikeout was enough to get him up to 200 on the season.

As a result, Tovar became the fifth player and first shortstop in MLB history to have 300-plus total bases and 200-plus strikeouts in a single season, according to StatMuse.

Regardless of his up-and-down campaign, Tovar will continue to be a key piece of the Rockies' core moving forward. He is just one season into the seven-year, $63.5 million contract Colorado signed him to this past spring, and he is the club's WAR leader since the start of 2023.

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