Can Arenado get from here to Cooperstown?
It’s not too early to declare: Nolan Arenado is the best player ever to wear a Rockies uniform. Every time Arenado rounds the bases after blasting a home run or dances across the dirt to put the shine on another gold-plated defensive play at third base, he takes a step closer to Cooperstown.
Outside of injury, there’s only one thing that can stop Arenado from making the Hall of Fame.
It’s Coors Field, where the game takes leave of its sanity.
On a beautiful summer evening, there’s no cooler venue in the major leagues. It’s just a darn shame they
don’t play real baseball in this ballpark.
In Thursday night, the Rockies and Dodgers continued the madness we endured the last time the Coors Canaveral opened its gates, when Colorado and San Diego broke a 90-year-old record by scoring 92 runs in a four-game series.
Games at 20th and Blake produce more carnage than “Game of Thrones,” and take so long they should be played with a 15-minute intermission rather than a seventh-inning stretch. Pitching here causes brain damage: Baby-faced Colorado rookie Peter Lambert, who surrendered four home runs to the Dodgers before being mercifully sent to the showers in the fifth inning, now has a 9.95 earned run average in three starts at home.
The greatest player in Rockies history? Well, out of respect to the career numbers compiled by Todd Helton and Larry Walker, you might argue the honor rightfully belongs to one of those stellar retired players.
Hey, you wouldn’t be wrong. But, in my book, Arenado is better.
After signing a $260 million contract in February, Arenado scuffled when the season began. He failed to hit a homer until Game 17, and on April 19, his batting average was a meager .247. Did Arenado feel the weight of all that new money on his shoulders?
“It had nothing to do with the contract. I think it was just a matter of finding a way to get comfortable,” Arenado said.
“I felt like I ended the 2018 season on a bad note personally. So I go into (this) year a little uncomfortable, and it’s like: ‘Man, I’m not hitting any homers. I didn’t hit any homers at the end of ’18, either. So this isn’t good.’ There was just a little bit of frustration. But I stayed with it.”
Nothing can keep Arenado down. His swing got sweeter as spring came into bloom, and he captured an all-star berth with a commanding
51.9 percent of the vote against finalists Kris Bryant and Josh Donaldson.
With his fifth selection at age 28, Arenado has already matched the all-star recognition given Helton and Walker.
Nobody, not even Baltimore Orioles legend Brooks Robinson, has ever played stronger defense at third than Arenado.
His career batting average currently stands at .293, and if his body stays strong, Arenado could approach 500 home runs and 2,500 hits before he hangs up his spikes.
The main thing Hall voters hold against Helton and Walker is the place the Rockies call home. To make matters worse, we’re stuck out in the lost time zone, which makes the perennial selection of Arenado to the AllStar Game all the more impressive.
“It means a lot that (fans) appreciate my game,” Arenado said, “because we play in Denver, they might not.”
Arenado has earned his respect. Coors Field? Not so much.
Watching Arenado play baseball is sublime. If you’re like me, there’s heartfelt hope he never wears the uniform of any other major-league team.
But truth be told, maybe the only way Arenado can earn the full respect of Hall voters is by leaving Denver at the conclusion of 2021 to demonstrate how well his game plays at sea level.
They should play calliope music at Coors. This is not baseball. It’s a circus.