DENVER • There are times when baseball officials just know.

They spend hours upon hours watching mundane baseball games So every once in a while, when a kid comes around who just has it, their ears perk up and their eyes glimmer with hope. And when everyone — from international scouts to Double-a managers — is saying that Ezequiel Tovar has that “it” factor, it’s as sure of a sign as they come that he’s going to make it.

And now, they’ll get to see if their intuitions

were right.

Tovar was promoted on Thursday, and will be the youngest position player in franchise history to make his debut when he gets in a game. On paper, it’s just another late-september call-up on a team that is already toting around 11 other rookies.

But this isn’t just another debut.

This is their future, a guy they think can be a star and help them climb out of the NL West basement and back it legitimacy.

His arrival brought a palatable buzz to a clubhouse that has been otherwise subdued for the past two months. General manager Bill Schmidt rushed to greet Tovar as soon as he walked in.

Mundane players still trying to wake up jumped from their phones to bearhug the new shortstop. Relievers stood on the sidelines as Tovar took ground balls pregame instead of rushing inside to get dry, nodding their heads as he made play after play.

“No pressure at all,” Tovar said, translated by bullpen catcher Aaron Muñoz when asked about the weight of the expectations on him. “I just want to go out there and be the best version of myself and play the best that I can.”

The hope started five years ago, when Tovar was signed out of the Venezuela at 16 years old.

In 2019, at 17 years old, he came to the United States, where his first stop was short-a, not rookie league, because he was too young to play in Grand Junction under Colorado labor laws.

He was just a 150-pound boy playing against grown men. But Tovar, never phased by a challenge, shined.

“I knew he had a chance to be real good,” general manager Bill Schmidt said. “His actions

and the glove, we didn’t have that.”

His glove was already major-league ready at that point, but there was some concern that this scrawny kid wouldn’t develop into a strong enough hitter. The COVID-19 pandemic was a blessing in disguise. He used that time to beef up, putting on an estimated 20 to 30 pounds.

By spring training this year, his first on the 40-man roster, he looked like a different hitter.

He hit .318 in 66 Double-a games with 13 home runs and 17 stolen bases. MLB pipeline gave his arm a 70 on a 20-80 scale, one of the highest-ranked infielders in the minor leagues. He was, to many eyes, the best player in the Eastern League this year before a hip injury sidelined him.

It was the type of injury that needed just rest to heal, and the Rockies kept a close eye on Tovar, bringing him to Denver for two weeks where he sat behind home plate during games.

No one recognized him. Hopefully, he said, that changes now.

The Rockies sent him to Albuquerque when he was healthy, then brought him to Denver after just five games in Triple-a. He’ll get a taste of major-league life in the last 13 games of the season, then be expected to take over the starting shortstop role next spring.

Manager Bud Black tried to downplay the call-up, not wanting to put too many expectations on his youngest player.

But he too has been hearing about Tovar since that 2019 season and is eager to put him to the test. Tovar did not start on Thursday, but is expected to see playing time this weekend against the Padres.

“The bat continues to grow with the gap power,” Black said. “He’s still a young developing player. I’m not sure when we are going to see the upside, but there’s a feeling that there’s a player who is really ready . ... we are confident in his ability.”