DENVER – On a hot Monday night with the Colorado Rockies on a cold streak, third baseman Nolan Arenado, just five days after BSN Denver published the Top 10 defensive plays in his career, did something we’ve never seen before. Again.
He has reached a level where his very existence is a paradox. How can someone routinely reinvent something? Like most strange and largely unexplainable phenomena, it has to be seen to be believed.
His latest gem is not his greatest gem. “He’s made so many in his career,” says Carlos Gonzalez. “Obviously, he’s aggressive. He knew the guy was gonna bunt the whole way. I’ve seen guys like Rizzo doing the same thing on the opposite side, so yeah, it’s a great play, a great heads-up play, but he’s made some ridiculous ones that are even more impressive like the one the other day in San Fran, that’s definitely one of those crazy plays that he’s capable of.”
Charging forward on a sacrifice bunt attempt from Luis Castillo, Arenado cut all the way across the field to the first base side of the mound, threw across his body, and gunned the lead runner down at second, nearly getting a double play out of the deal.
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everybody else pic.twitter.com/go6cOXkSiI— Rockies.com/vote (@Rockies) July 4, 2017
He tells us he had no fear that Castillo might actually take a swing, which takes a level of confidence considering he would have been about six feet away and closing in such a circumstance. “Yeah. No not with him,” he says. “With some other pitchers. I thought he was gonna bunt. He’s a rookie. He’s just trying to get the job done. I just didn’t take [that he might swing] into consideration. I just thought ‘there’s no way he’s gonna pull back.'”
We asked if he’s ever gone quite that far away from his natural position to field a baseball at any point during his four-Gold-Glove career. “No, not usually. Not like that, that’s for sure,” he responded. “I was already committed to going so that’s why I decided to go ahead and make the play. I could have still let it go and let Hoffman get it but I was charging to get the out at second base.”
He says at no point did he consider deviating from the plan and taking the safe out at first. “I knew I was going to second base 100 percent.”
Perhaps the most remarkable thing about that play is that it doesn’t even crack Arenado’s Top 10. Though, getting a consensus on that would be tough.
We shared our own list with CarGo and while he has much respect for the “Tarp Catch” and “The Cutoff” he has a different preference: “I like the ones going forward, The barehanded plays. Those are really hard. The one he made off of Yadier Molina was a really tough one, too. A line drive to the left side and he didn’t have a chance to move and to still make that play … he’s just incredible at third base.”
