Rockies' Nolan Arenado puts on a show every game
— -- As baseball fans, when we talk about guys we would pay to see, we all value different qualities. Every sport has its own feats of strength or speed. But if there's one thing that advertises baseball unlike any other -- something that makes you sit up and take notice, somebody who gives you something to talk about decades later -- it's a great fielder at third base.
Fifty years later, some folks are still talking about Brooks Robinson. Now walk it forward: 40 years ago, there was Graig Nettles; 30 years, Terry Pendleton; 20 years, Ken Caminiti; 10 years, Adrian Beltre. And today? Let's talk about Nolan Arenado because there are few things in the game today more beautiful than watching him do his thing for the Colorado Rockies at third base.
You can't have forgotten what might be Arenado's signature play: On April 14, 2015, at a full sprint down the left-field line in AT&T Park, he made an over-the-shoulder catch as he collided with the tarp and then fired -- from his knees, from on top of the tarp -- to third base to try to complete the double play. It was perhaps the perfect synthesis of all things Arenado: effort, execution, anticipation and the presence of mind to try something impossible for most mere mortals.
Arenado has done something incredible: He has never not won the Gold Glove in the major leagues, going as far back as he's been here. He has been in the majors three years, and he has won three Gold Gloves. It's the first time in National League history that has happened at third base; in 2013, Arenado became the first rookie in NL history to win a Gold Glove. He also was the first since Frank Malzone for the Boston Red Sox in the 1950s to three-peat at third at the start of his career. That's even more impressive when you consider that Arenado's career comprises the entire period since Gold Glove voting has integrated an analytical component -- thanks SABR, literally -- to make the awards more representative of ability and less reputation-based than ever before.
The metrics capture some element of how much good Arenado does on the diamond. Since he debuted in 2013, he's third among all players at all positions with 69 defensive runs saved. He ranks behind shortstop Andrelton Simmons (by a lot, as Simmons has 97 in that time) and outfielder Jason Heyward (by just two). Keep in mind: Third base is a corner, so third basemen don't get as many chances as up-the-middle players. But because of his range, arm, intelligence and reflexes, Arenado is that important. He's that good. In 2015, he became the first National Leaguer at the hot corner since Aaron Boone in 2002 to turn more than 40 double plays.
Arenado might try to do -- and might achieve -- the incredible, but it's a reflection of the rhythm of the game that the things he does that few others can aren't what he loves best about his job. His favorite play is the one you'll see every day.
"I just like the routine play. I think some people take that for granted sometimes. It's an out, and we need those," he said, a simple answer to a simple question. Then he paused. "Or the slow-roller bare-hand -- I like those."
Maybe he can't help himself, thinking about the things he can do and how much he enjoys doing them. Can you blame him? Of course, he does have his favorites.
"Obviously, the San Fran play," he said, beaming. "But we've made some double plays that I've really enjoyed. I think against [Scott] Van Slyke in Dodger Stadium, I made a back-hand a couple years ago, and he thought it was a double, and he rounded the bag, and I had the ball, and then he realized I'd got the ball and tried to get back in the lane, and I threw him out. That was pretty cool."
Believe it or not, Arenado wasn't always great at playing third base. There was a point when he treated it as something he had to do, like homework. That showed in scouting reports and prospect evaluations, as when Baseball America's 2011 Prospect Handbook suggested his future was at first base. But that was written just before Arenado changed: He shed 20 pounds while applying himself and taking the benefits his coaches could provide.
"[Former Rockies infield coordinator] Scottie Fletcher helped me a lot. He was the rover here with us for a while," Arenado said. "Jerry Weinstein is the one who really helped me with my feet. He actually changed my game a little bit, with how I move my feet and how I go to the ball. Stu Cole has been helping me out a lot at the big league level. ... The good thing about them is: Thank God they're not afraid of work. They like to work, which is good, and that's what I need. I need guys who want to get it in with me or tell me, 'Hey, let's go do this,' instead of me having to ask them."
Perhaps the key person in turning Arenado into one of the best defenders you're likely to see was his former teammate, Troy Tulowitzki.
"Tulo was the first one to tell me I needed to take pride in my defense," Arenado said. "And he was right. You've got to take pride in it and want to be really good at it. Back in the day, before I really started to work on defense, I would just take ground balls, whatever, a couple, and then I'd say, 'OK, now I'm going to go hit.' Now I spend just as much time on ground balls as I do on hitting. It took me a while to learn that, but he was right. You've got to take pride in what you're doing out there."
Players live by their routines, and Arenado's is designed to test him just a little extra, to make him that little bit better.
"During BP, I field at the back of the dirt, back of the grass every day -- always at the way far back -- so when the game starts, the throws from up feel a lot closer," Arenado said. "I like to throw as hard as I can. I do balls at me, I do back-hands, I do forehands, and then I go up and do double plays -- every single day."
That's not to say Arenado isn't adaptable. In today's game, there's an assiduous attention to detail regarding positioning and shifting. Arenado is among the players who embrace that.
"It used to be by feel or what I've seen before with guys. Like Denard Span, you know you've gotta go up because you know there's a chance he's going to bunt. That's all feel for me," he said. "But nowadays, they kind of tell you where to play. But sometimes I'll be playing on the line, and it's kind of weird because usually you want to be playing on the line when it's a close game and late, but now I'm doing it in the third [or] fourth inning. And sometimes I'm playing at short. It's kind of crazy."
Like so many others, Arenado has walked the fine line between trying to model his game on the greats and figuring out what makes him great.
"You try to do the Derek Jeter play, the back-hand, the jump throw," he said. "I watch A-Rod a lot. I watch [Adrian] Beltre a lot -- the way he's so smooth and kind of just flicks the ball over there. Scott Rolen is a guy I used to watch a lot. He used to always fire the ball in there. But I've learned that, as I've gotten older, you've got to try to be yourself. I think once I figured that out, I became a better fielder. When you try to be somebody else, those aren't your moves. I appreciate them for playing the game the right way, but I gotta have my style."
That sounds like wisdom from a guy who just turned 25 years old. Where does it leave us? Feeling good in our seats while he's feeling justifiably good on the field because if there's one thing you should sit up and see, any day and every day, it's a lineup card that says, "Nolan Arenado."
Sit back and enjoy the show because there isn't a day he won't give you one.
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