The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Schmidt sees next great one at his position
Hall of Famer calls Arenado the ‘heir’ to third-base legends.
The SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ. — greatest third baseman in major league history had a point to make. It was in January, and Mike Schmidt was on the phone talking about his old position, which had gained another Hall of Famer with the election of Chipper Jones to Cooperstown. Schmidt, a 10-time Gold Glove winner with three Most Valuable Player awards and 548 home runs, said his reign would soon come to an end.
“In my opinion, Nolan Arenado is going to be the heir apparent to the all-time greatest third basemen,” Schmidt said. “He puts up numbers that I never even dreamed of. I don’t think George Brett did or Chipper did, either. His numbers are crazy, and he hasn’t won an MVP yet, which is really crazy.”
Arenado, the sublime slugger for the Colorado Rockies, is the only third baseman in history with three seasons of 35 homers and 130 runs batted in. He is just 26; only Jimmie Foxx, in the 1930s, had as many such seasons so young.
Arenado is hardly a creation of Coors Field (he hit 19 homers there last season, and 18 on the road), but his overall production could be distorted by its funhouse-mirror reputation. Yet his fielding at third base, a skill completely unrelated to thin air, is indisputable.
“I don’t think altitude helps my defense,” Arenado said, smiling, before a recent morning workout at Salt River Fields. “It might wear me out a little bit.”
Only one player at any position — Andrelton Simmons, the Los Angeles Angels’ shortstop — has more defensive wins above replacement since 2013 than Arenado. He actually has more Gold Gloves than service time: five Gold Gloves, 4.155 years of major league service. No other infielder has ever won Gold Gloves in each of his first five seasons.
“It’s going to be tough to get it back,” said San Diego’s Chase Headley, the last National League Gold Glove winner at third base before Arenado.
Arenado said he was flattered by Schmidt’s praise but was not even sure he was the majors’ best active third baseman. Not with Kris Bryant, Josh Donaldson, Jose Ramirez, Anthony Rendon and Justin Turner around.
“The reason why I train and get better is I don’t really look at myself as the No. 1 guy,” Arenado said. “I know I can play with any of those guys, but there’s some good ones, and you’ve got to keep up. I don’t want to get passed by any of those guys. When you win a Gold Glove, you don’t want to give that up ever again.”
Arenado grew up rooting for the Dodgers, and one of his favorite players was Adrian Beltre, another third baseman Schmidt praised. But Arenado played shortstop at El Toro High School in Lake Forest, California, and switched to third when a travel ball coach told him he had a strong arm and good hands — but bad feet. He would not need as much range at third, and would be more appealing there to scouts.
The Rockies chose Arenado in the second round of the 2009 draft, and he quickly rose through their farm system. Oakland third baseman Matt Chapman and Yankees catcher Austin Romine, who both played with Arenado at El Toro, expected as much. Chapman said he had “never met somebody that wants it more” than Arenado.
“He ate, slept, breathed baseball,” Romine said. “You could tell that was his life.”
To hear Arenado tell it, though, he arrived in the minors far too slow to be considered a strong defender. He knew he had to eat better and be lighter on his feet.
Arenado is 6-foot-2 and 220 pounds, taller and heavier than Donaldson, Ramirez, Rendon and Turner. Because of his size, Arenado said, he always wants to be moving his feet.
Third base suits him well because it is so instinctual, he said. The shortstop is the captain of most infields, but not in Colorado, where Arenado pursues every ball near him unless he is called off. If the Rockies use an exaggerated infield shift, it is Arenado — not shortstop Trevor Story — who stays on the left side.
It all adds up to a peerless third baseman, certainly now and maybe ever. Brooks Robinson won the most Gold Gloves — 16 in a row, from 1960 through 1975 — but Jerry Weinstein, one of Arenado’s minor league managers, said Arenado ranked right with him.
To explain his prized pupil’s heartbeat, Weinstein, 74, reached back even further into baseball lore.
“In Cooperstown they have a slideshow, and they have Rogers Hornsby, and a voiceover says, ‘Ain’t much to being a ballplayer if you’re a ballplayer,’” Weinstein said. “He’s a ballplayer, and that’s probably the highest compliment you can give.”