In December 2020, at Christmastime, and with the pandemic still raging, Tracy Poff did what she knew she had to do.
She left her home in Boise, Idaho, rented a condo in Scottsdale, Ariz., and flew down to take care of “her kid.”
That kid was Rockies shortstop prospect Ezequiel Tovar, who had spent the summer of 2019 living with his American host family in Boise, made up of Poff and her two sons, Mason, 11 at the time, and Landon, 8. Tovar, just 18 at Christmas time, was stranded in Arizona. His native Venezuela had closed its borders and Tovar and two other prospects ended up stuck in Scottsdale for more than a year.
“I’m divorced and my boys were with their dad at the time,” Poff explained. “And I’m a high school teacher, so I had a two-week break. So I decided to fly down to Arizona to see Ezequiel. He hadn’t been hugged for so long.”
Tovar came over to the condo, he and his friends swam in the pool, and Poff prepared their meals every day while she was there.
“He’s my son and he calls me his ‘American mom,’” Poff said. “He’s become the older brother to Mason and Landon. I get goosebumps just talking about it.”
Tovar was wide-eyed when he first arrived in America in the summer of 2019 to make his debut with the Boise Hawks, the Rockies’ short-season, Class-A team at the time. He stayed the first few nights in a hotel before meeting his host family.
“I remember it very vividly,” Poff said. “He came over and immediately hugged all of us.”
As the quartet left the hotel parking lot, Tovar, who barely spoke English, used a smartphone to send a message. using Google Translate, he typed out: “Thank you for letting me be a part of your family.”
Poff never really expected such an emotional bond to form when she signed up to host a Hawks player.
“The boys’ dad doesn’t live here locally, but we love sports and I wanted to have some male role models around,” Poff said. “I was watching TV one night and a commercial came across that said that the Hawks were looking for host families. So I signed up. I thank God that I did.”
The family hung out often that summer. Poff’s mother, Karen Echeveria, made lasagna to celebrate Tovar’s 18th birthday. Poff made him a cake.
“All of the Latin players came over for the party,” she said. “I couldn’t believe how much they could eat! There was no food left.”
Poff still laughs at certain memories.
“Ezequiel wouldn’t use the garbage disposal; he was terrified of it,” she recalled. “And he would not believe me that you could put dirty dishes in the dishwasher and they would come out clear. He couldn’t believe it. He had none of that in Venezuela.”
Poff was unable to attend the Sept. 23 game at Coors Field last season when Tovar made his major league debut against the Padres, rapping a single on the first pitch he saw. But Poff’s friends were at the game and they created a homemade poster: “Your Boise family loves you!”
Tovar signed it and Poff kept it.
Rockies’ spring training opens Wednesday in Scottsdale for pitchers and catchers. Position players hold their first official workout on Feb. 20. Big things are expected of Tovar, who, at age 21, is expected to be the starting shortstop.
“It’s absolutely incredible to see how far he’s come — and not just in baseball, but in life, too,” Poff said. “The way he attached to my boys will always melt my heart. He’s their brother now.”
Last week, during a phone interview from the Rockies’ Latin-American complex in the Dominican Republic, Tovar was thrilled to talk about his host family.
“When I got to the States, she welcomed me into her home, and I felt right at home, right away,” Tovar said. “She’s my mom in the States. Please tell her ‘hi’ and ‘I’ll see her soon.’”
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