This story was excerpted from Thomas Harding¡¯s Rockies Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

KANSAS CITY -- Fans arrive at Kauffman Stadium knowing they are likely to enjoy one of the game¡¯s best young shortstops. Over the weekend, however, Rockies rookie Ezequiel Tovar showed that there was more than one new-breed shortstop in town.

The Royals¡¯ Bobby Witt Jr. shows often that his attention is well-founded, even with the occasional growing pains. Tovar also lived up to the Rockies¡¯ assertion that he¡¯s one of the game¡¯s brightest young players at a premium position.

Tovar, 21, came away impressed with Witt, who turns 23 in less than two weeks.

¡°I didn¡¯t know him before, but man he is really good,¡± Tovar said. ¡°But I don¡¯t compete. I just compete with myself.¡±

On Friday, Tovar battled the wind to catch an infield pop and doubled a straying Witt off first base.

Tovar added a double as part of a six-run eighth inning in a 7-2 Rockies victory.

Tovar also went 2-for-3 in Saturday¡¯s 6-4 victory and doubled for one of the Rockies¡¯ eight hits in their 2-0 series finale loss.

Tovar¡¯s impact is growing. From Opening Day to April 25, Tovar struggled to a .187/.247/.240 slash line with four doubles, seven RBIs and 25 strikeouts in 22 games. But the Rockies¡¯ commitment to Tovar as the shortstop of their next phase never wavered.?

Since April 26, he has rewarded them by slashing .285/.325/.504 with 13 doubles, a triple and four home runs.

Laying off the low-and-outside breaking ball is still a work in progress, as evidenced by his 36 strikeouts in the 35-game period. But the team is 17-18 in those games. One reason is Tovar¡¯s offensive impact, not to mention his increasingly comfortable glovework, to lead an infield that has improved dramatically since the first month.

Two confidence-building actions -- one seen, one unseen -- in the last week and a half have propelled Tovar.

Tovar provided the walk-off single in a 7-6 home victory over the Marlins on May 25. Before the next game, against Mets star Max Scherzer, hitting coach Hensley Meulens felt there was a breakthrough. Tovar drew two walks against Scherzer and has had 12 hits, including a home run and six doubles, in the nine games since.

¡°Working with ¡®Bam Bam¡¯ [Meulens] the plan has always been the same -- he wants me to maintain my aggressiveness throughout the whole approach, but communicating with him and having the right game plan,¡± Tovar said.

The best endorsement from manager Bud Black is Tovar has so lived up to the scouting reports on his maturity that ¡°we sort of take it for granted.¡± Then Tovar reminds him by making easy work of difficult plays, like this chopper he handled to throw out the D-backs¡¯ speedy Jake McCarthy.

But Black believes Tovar will be one of the new shortstops that folks will appreciate for years to come.

¡°There was a generation of shortstops a couple of decades ago -- Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Nomar Garciaparra ¡­ I¡¯m missing some, but they were Hall of Fame-type players,¡± Black said. ¡°Now there¡¯s an influx of new young shortstops, with our guy, Witt, and we¡¯ll see the guy the Yankees have, Anthony Volpe.

¡°There are some good ones. Our guy is going to be right there with them all.¡±