Ezequiel Tovar came to the Colorado Rockies in a different way than his predecessors, but his impact could equal theirs.

The Venezuelan shortstop signed as an international free agent in 2017, and has risen to a franchise pillar since. Colorado awarded him a guaranteed contract that could last through 2031, and he will get the chance to take the mantle once held by Troy Tulowitzki before Trevor Story took the baton.

Tovar’s turn is next.

“It’s someone we envision building around,” general manager Bill Schmidt said. “It starts with Neifi Perez to Walt (Weiss). (Then) to Tulo, Story and he falls in line. I think we’re putting together pieces that we feel are going to be a championship team, and he’s going to be part of it going forward.”

Rolando Fernandez has been honored in the last year for his international scouting efforts, but before the acclaim, he was a scout watching a 15-year-old Tovar with a vision of what he could become. Two years before, he was taking batting practice in the Dominican Republic when Colorado encouraged him to seek the opportunity to show the organization what he could do at a tryout.

On his 16th birthday, Colorado showed their faith with the highest bonus of their 2017 draft class. And a year later, he came to the United States to get started in full. He was so young that Colorado labor laws initially prevented the then-17-year-old Tovar from playing rookie ball in Grand Junction.

Fielding was expected to be his specialty, but the bat has shown several flashes since the franchise was encouraged that Tovar could bud into a two-way star.

His breakout began in 2022 with stints at Double-A Hartford and Triple-A Albuquerque. He hit .318 with the former before being moved up to the Abuquerque Isotopes, the Rockies Triple-A affiliate, where he hit .333, albeit in just five games. The flash set the stage for his debut.

The first two pitches he saw in his Rockies’ debut were hits. He was already the youngest position player to make a debut for the franchise, at 21 years and 53 days old, but added another milestone as the first to get hits on his first two pitches.

“I felt like a badass,” Tovar said after the debut. “I was really confident in the way I did it.”

Spring training came months later and he hit .302 in 53 at-bats — the Rockies decided it was time to make him a full-time fixture, especially with Story out the door as a free agent to Boston.

Colorado took chances, and it’s created a bond.

“I signed here as a 16-year-old, so I feel like this is my family,” Tovar said after the extension was announced. “(An extension) is something I never really thought about. I just went out there and tried to play to the best of my ability.

“When I got called up and made the roster, that’s when I knew I could do it. When I made my debut, I told myself, ‘I belong here, I can do this.’ ”

The organization trusted him to make the second-most starts for a rookie shortstop in Rockies’ history, behind Tulowitzki. He returned the favor with a near-Gold-Glove win and an entry into yearly awards talks before Corbin Carroll and others took over down the stretch. He also tied Todd Helton’s first-year doubles record (37).

Tovar’s range was rated atop the National League for shortstops, and he’s feeling some growing pains, but the Rockies have faith in him.

Colorado’s opening series in Arizona was one of the learning moments.

Multiple fielding chances went awry, whether because of bad hops or poor execution. But the club is trusting him to iron them out in real-time.

The Rockies organization already likes who Tovar is. And because of his demeanor, drive and perseverance, they love who he can become in the footsteps of the great shortstops who manned the spot before him.

He’ll just do it his way.

Ezequiel Tovar career stats

Games: 169

Slash line: .249/.296/.403

Doubles: 39

Home runs: 17

Runs driven in: 78 

Stolen bases: 11