Shortstop Ezequiel Tovar and center fielder Brenton Doyle were tagged as the Rockies’ future. The team even held bobblehead nights for both players.

But the promise turned into disappointment during the Rockies’ hideous first half of the season.

Tovar was a victim of fate, missing 63 games because of injuries — first a left hip contusion early in the season, followed by a left oblique strain. He finally returned to the lineup Friday night vs. the Twins as part of what manager Warren Schaeffer called a “fresh start” as the team returned from the All-Star break.

Doyle’s struggles are more concerning. Hitting .143 (3 for 21) with 10 strikeouts in Colorado’s six-game road trip before the break dropped his slash line to .202/.254/.322. Entering Friday, he’d hit just seven home runs in 331 plate appearances. Doyle’s home run rate has dropped from 3.8% last season to 2.1% this season. He’s no longer a lock to be in center field every game, often sitting against right-handed starters as left-handed-hitting Mickey Moniak takes his place.

There was every reason for optimism when Colorado opened the season in Tampa Bay on March 28. Tovar won a Gold Glove in 2024 while hitting 26 homers, 45 doubles and four triples for a total of 75 extra-base hits, ranking second in the National League behind MVP Shohei Ohtani (99 extra-base hits).

Doyle became the first outfielder in NL history and the third outfielder ever to win a Gold Glove in each of his first two major league seasons. His defense has remained solid this year, but his ongoing slump at the plate is a head-scratcher. Every time he looks ready to bust out, he goes bust again.

Tovar’s return will surely spark a team that, entering Friday, needed to win 20 of its final 66 games to avoid matching the 2024 White Sox’s modern record of 121 losses.

“He’s a Gold Glove shortstop and there’s not a lot of them out there,” Schaeffer said. “Having him play shortstop every day is going to make our defense better.”

It couldn’t get much worse. Colorado entered the weekend with an MLB-worst .977 fielding percentage and an MLB-high 80 errors.

Regarding Tovar’s offense, Schaeffer noted the shortstop’s propensity for extra-base hits: “Any time you can add that, it’s a good thing.”

The soft-spoken Tovar said Friday that he was “frustrated” having to sit on the sidelines as the Rockies stumbled and bumbled to a 22-74 start, but he’s all in on Schaeffer’s optimistic philosophy.

“It’s a fresh start, obviously, starting from zero and all that kind of stuff,” Tovar said in Spanish with translator Edwin Perez interpreting. “This could be a good second half if we all do our little (things).

“We’re hoping there’s a better second half, that with the help of God, things will get better and things can go our way. But you never know, with those kinds of situations, what it would have been like if I had been out there.”

Tovar is under contract through 2031 if the Rockies exercise the last year of his deal. He takes his role as a franchise cornerstone seriously.

“The Rockies are the team that gave me the opportunity when I was 16,” he said, referring to his age when Colorado signed him as a teenager out of Venezuela. “Now I have a contract with this team until I’m 29 or 30. I want to be a part of (the turnaround). Every day, I’m going to take that personally. I want to help the team in that process — to get out of this little rut.”