Arenado's Absence: A simple blueprint for busting a slump

DENVER – When Rockies manager Bud Black filled out his lineup card for game two of a pivotal NL West series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, one rather notable player was missing: Nolan Arenado.

Plagued by soreness in his right shoulder for the past month, Arenado has seen his production at the plate drop off drastically in the past two weeks, from his batting average dipping sixteen points to an OPS of just .508 during the span.

On August 10, Arenado left the game midway against the Dodgers, the first apparent signs of the injury that had been lingering for a days. Ryan McMahon took his place at the hot corner and his seventh inning homer propelled the Rockies to a 5-4 comeback victory.

For the next two games in the series, Arenado featured off the bench in a pinch-hitting role as Colorado would win their third straight game against Los Angeles at home without their leader in offense.

Bookended by off days, the team traveled to Houston where Arenado would get back into the lineup as the designated hitter, going 3-for-7 against the Astros’ one-two punch of Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole. He did hit a decisive homer against Verlander.

Since the Houston series, Arenado has just five extra base hits in his last seventy-seven at bats.

Not one to take an off day lightly, particularly one during one the most important stretches of games in franchise history, Arenado spoke with his manager about the decision.

“It’s extremely disappointing. I don’t make the lineup. I want to be out there. I voiced that. But, at the same time, I’m not performing.”

Black confirmed the back-and-forth between the player and manager.

“We had a good conversation. I’ve never met a major league player that doesn’t want to play. They want to play all the time. They want to play. That’s what makes them major leaguers.”

A month ago on August 9, Arenado entered the ballgame with a .308 batting average and a .979 on-base plus slugging percentage.

Since then, Arenado is batting .264 with a .725 OPS.

In the interim, teammate Trevor Story has passed him by for the team lead in runs batted and tied Arenado with 31 home runs. The third-year shortstop has also taken the reigns as a legitmate NL MVP candidate for the team as the third baseman goes through one of the least timely slumps of his stellar career.

Before Saturday’s game, Arenado discussed his omission from the starting lineup.

“I don’t make those calls. I don’t want it. There’s no beating around it: I’m not playing well. That’s why I’m not playing today. It is what it is.”

Arenado’s lackluster production at the plate aside, Black discussed the notion that this decision was based around a timely day off.

“It’s hard. But these types of decisions are made at different times during the course of the season based on a lot of factors. In this case, we felt, given Nolan the start off might help him move forward.”

Black continued to defend his choice regarding the three-time winner of the Silver Slugger Award:

“Offensively, he just doesn’t feel right. The timing’s off, there’s some other things going on. These days, when players – good players, star players – aren’t in the lineup, you see it often. It’s a little bit magnified because it’s September. But it’s the right thing to do.”

The four-time Gold Glove winner detailed exactly how the injury has been impacting him at the plate and in the field.

“It doesn’t hurt hitting. Just throwing does. (The shoulder) is not 100% (when) throwing. It’s not going to be. It’s not going to be good throwing probably until the year’s over, until next season.”

Though always frank with the media, Arenado’s tone had improved somewhat from the night before.

It was a 4-2 loss on Friday night that moved the Dodgers to within 0.5 games and saw Rockies hitters go 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position and ten runners left on base. Arenado defended his teammates before shifting the focus back onto his own shortcomings.

“Obviously, guys are playing well. Guys are doing a good job. Individually, I’ve got to pick it up. I’ve got to try to help this team, somehow. It sucks not helping right now.”

Struggling to find his words after the tough loss, the star slugger sounded downright dejected about his current contributions.

“It happens. Sometimes (slumps) get you when you least expect it or want it. Obviously, I wish I wasn’t going through it right now. Especially with it being September. But, this game is hard. I’m doing the best I can.”

In a further effort to downplay the severity of the decision to keep Arenado off the field Saturday night, Black likened the situation to one that is common to this club and many others around the major leagues.

“This is nothing new. We’ve talked about this before. It’s been asked about Charlie, Desi, DJ, it’s been asked about the one or two times Trevor hasn’t played. So we talk about this all the time. This is nothing really new….Bellinger was not playing. Muncy, Kemp didn’t play last night. I saw some other guys across baseball. They didn’t play either.”

At the start of the season, it would have seemed unusual for the Rockies to have won a game with the leader of their lineup missing and superb starting pitching carrying the team to victories, but that’s exactly what happened during Arenado’s absence on Saturday and has happened throughout most of their winning ways since June.

On Sunday, Arenado was back in the lineup batting third. Contributing with two fantastic plays on defense and a two-run home run that got Colorado back into a game that was getting out of reach. The off-day by Black seemed to the precise prescription for his banged up third baseman.

As he works through the nagging injury, it’s unclear if Arenado will be able to put his organization on his back as he’s done in the past. With the strongest starting pitching in franchise history and a bullpen capable of shutting down an offense on any given night, the three-run homer has become less a part of the Rockies handbook on how to win games.

Though he’s finished in the top ten in NL MVP voting for the past three seasons, it may no longer be a question whether Nolan Arenado can carry this team again, but whether or not it’s needed for Colorado to reach the postseason.