DENVER – The questions shouldn’t be, ‘will he sign long-term?’ or, ‘Is he the best the game has to offer?’ The one and only question with Nolan Arenado should be ‘How?’ As in how does Nolan Arenado do that? How does Nolan Arenado continue to get better? How can I appreciate the prime of a legend?
Nolan is just that: a legend. He gained this status with the first walk-off home run when behind to complete a cycle.
This whole week he has been blistering, going 12-for-24 (.500) over his last five games with 11 RBI, five doubles, two triples and a home run.
Each of these achievements—both the moment and the statistical—are mighty impressive and display what one of the game’s best is capable of at during peak performance in his prime.
When Nolan is rollin’, there isn’t really a benchmark for what he’s doing. You just have to sit back and appreciate greatness when you see it.
For the first time in his career, the “MVP” chants ringing throughout Coors Field are deserved and he is worthy of being deemed the National League’s premier player.
Go around the Rockies clubhouse and ask who the most important player is to any given team in baseball and they all say, ‘Mike Trout then Nolan.’
At 26, Arenado still has growing room and potential to tap into it. The proof has been this season. Coming into Wednesday slashing .302/.354/.579 with 15 bombs, 57 RBI, 26 two-baggers and four triples. The only other time Arenado had carried a batting average above .300 this deep into a season was in August of sophomore season (2014.) That .302 mark would be right in line with his jump of seven points in average between 2015 and 2016, marking that this growth has been steady.
The defense has been good as it has ever been as he’s only made one error this season and it came during this season, a staggering 60-plus game errorless streak is remarkable no matter which defensive statistic you value. His defensive fWAR, which is a counting stat, is already at 9.2, the highest total accumulated since his rookie season of 2013.
A crazy thing that Purple Row’s Eric Garcia McKinley pointed out is the Rockies rWAR leaderboard for the first five seasons of a career. Fifth is Carlos Gonzalez with 13.6, fourth Matt Holliday at 18.4, then Troy Tulowitzki at 20.4, followed by Todd Helton who accumulated 22.5. First is Arenado at 23.4 rWAR.
The Rockies are now in a contention window and seem headed to the playoffs in 2017. You have to just sit back and enjoy Nolan. Todd and Troy only got two of these, Larry one.
You’re watching the rarity that is the Rockies being extremely good with their best player in his absolute prime. Soak this in, you will be talking about this for the rest of your life.
