Tovar hopes his fine-tuned offseason efforts will pay off in big way

SCOTTSDALE Ariz. -- Rockies shortstop Ezequiel Tovar spent much of his winter hitting soft, squishy balls in his yard in Venezuela.

On Monday, he squashed a real baseball for a home run off Giants ace Logan Webb in the Rockies¡¯ 8-2, split-squad loss.

At the end of last season, Tovar purchased a MaxBP Machine, which fires off those soft training balls that can imitate the spin of breaking pitches that have given him trouble in the past. Sometimes, Tovar increased the degree of difficulty by using a thinner bat. The Rockies have such a machine at Coors Field -- hitting coach Hensley Meulens is a partner in the company -- and hitters use them during the season.

His windows, Tovar reported, survived the winter.

¡°It¡¯s soft, so it won¡¯t break anything,¡± Tovar said in Spanish, with Edwin Perez interpreting.

The homer off Webb, on an inside changeup, would have threatened glass or harder materials. The at-bat illustrated the goal of the machine purchase. He took two fastballs, the first inside, the second middle-middle for a strike before crushing Webb¡¯s inside changeup. After seeing balls from the machine all winter, Tovar arrived in camp with the goal of seeing more pitches thrown in Spring Training competition to hone his judgment of pitch location.

Selectivity could be the next step to stardom for Tovar, 23, in his third full season as the Rockies¡¯ starting shortstop, and in the second year of a seven-year, $63.5 million deal that can increase to $84 million if the club exercises its 2031 option.

Last season, Tovar led the Rockies with 26 home runs and led the National League with 45 doubles, but he also finished second in the Majors with 200 strikeouts, setting a club record. Increased plate discipline could improve his OPS from a .764 mark to a level comparable to the elite players.

The production sometimes leads to Tovar¡¯s impatience. Tovar¡¯s right-handed swing is capable of driving an outside pitch to right-center, but he often jumps at outside breaking balls that veer off the plate.

So this winter, he jumped at buying the machine, not to change his swing or approach but to sharpen it.

¡°We haven¡¯t changed anything,¡± Meulens said. ¡°The only thing we talked about at the end of the year last year is coming into Spring Training this year -- and I did this with Pablo Sandoval over at the Giants because he was the same kind of hitter -- was to be more patient early in the count.¡±

Spring Training results through Tovar¡¯s 11 games point in the right direction. Tovar is batting .269. The homer against Webb was his first, and five of his six other hits were doubles. He walked four times in his first three games, and his spring on-base percentage is .387. Of his eight strikeouts, three occurred in one game.

¡°It¡¯s all about preparing for the year,¡± Tovar said. ¡°Sometimes, I¡¯m going to be aggressive with my at-bats. But sometimes I¡¯m going to look for the right pitch and be a little less aggressive. It really just depends on the at-bat.¡±

M¨¢rquez getting back in sync

The best that could be said for Germán Márquez's 2 1/3 innings was that he ended the start against the Giants healthy after giving up four runs on five hits and three walks. M¨¢rquez pitched just once last year in his comeback from 2023 Tommy John right elbow surgery and is still finding his timing. He felt less-than-sharp because a team rainout on Friday changed his work schedule, but Monday¡¯s problems have an easy fix.

¡°It was a little bit of [poor] timing today -- it was a long week for me,¡± M¨¢rquez said. ¡°I want to keep on my delivery, the little things.¡±

On the other side, righty Antonio Senzatela -- who made just three starts last year after coming off a Tommy John procedure in 2023 -- struck out six in four innings of his start during the Rockies¡¯ 12-3 loss to the Angels at Tempe, Ariz.

Lefties Lucas Gilbreath and Carson Palmquist each made their first Cactus League appearances.

Gilbreath, who underwent neurogenic thoracic outlet surgery at the end of October, yielded three hits and was charged with two runs -- although he could have left the mound scoreless had Yanquiel Fernandez held onto Victor Bericoto¡¯s deep liner with two out in the eighth.

Palmquist, who was away from the team early in Spring Training to attend to family matters, faced five batters and gave up two hits, one walk and one hit-by-pitch.