Charlie Blackmon

High school career

Born in Dallas, Texas Blackmon is of partial English ancestry and was raised in Suwanee, Georgia, Blackmon was an outstanding baseball player at North Gwinnett High School, as a left-handed pitcher and outfielder. Aside from baseball, Blackmon also competed in basketball and football, and was named Academic Player of the Year three times.

College career

After spending two years at Young Harris College, Blackmon received a scholarship to Georgia Tech, and transferred in the fall of 2006. At Young Harris, Blackmon won 15 games and had 138 strikeouts in 127 innings for the school, and was drafted for the first time after his freshman season. Blackmon had been recruited by Georgia Tech after his freshman season, but returned to Young Harris for his sophomore season as he had promised the team he would play for two seasons. Blackmon continued to pitch until his fourth and final year at Georgia Tech, after redshirting due to elbow tendinitis. As a fourth-year junior outfielder for Georgia Tech, Blackmon hit .396, hit eight home runs, and stole 25 bases as the leadoff hitter for the team. Blackmon also excelled academically, receiving various honors including being named to the 2008 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America Second Team. He graduated from Georgia Tech in 2011 with a bachelor's degree in finance.

Professional career

Blackmon was drafted by the Colorado Rockies in the second round of the 2008 Major League Baseball draft. Blackmon had first been drafted in the 28th round in the 2004 draft by the Florida Marlins as a pitcher, and was also drafted in the 2005 draft in the 20th round by the Boston Red Sox. He spent 2008 with the Tri-City Dust Devils, hitting .338 in 68 games. In 2009, he was promoted to the Modesto Nuts, and hit .307 with 30 stolen bases in 133 games there. In 2010, he played for the Tulsa Drillers, and spent the first half of 2011 with the Colorado Springs Sky Sox.

Colorado Rockies

He was called up to the majors for the first time on June 7, 2011.

He recorded his first MLB hit on June 8 at Petco Park against Dustin Moseley of the San Diego Padres with a 1-out single to right. He recorded his first MLB RBI on June 11 against Matt Guerrier of the Los Angeles Dodgers, driving in Seth Smith with a 1-out single. He recorded his first MLB home run on July 1, 2011, (his 25th birthday) in a pinch hit at bat against Joakim Soria. He finished with a .255 AVG in 27 games.

The following two seasons, Blackmon spent the majority of the time between the Rockies and their AAA minor league team, as they didn't have playing time for him. After the 2013 season, the Rockies traded Dexter Fowler to the Astros, thus creating an opening for Blackmon to win the center field job in 2014.

On April 4, 2014, Blackmon notched six hits—including three doubles and a homer—scored four runs and tallied five RBI out of the leadoff spot. He joins Ty Cobb (5/5/1925), Jimmie Foxx (7/10/1932), Edgardo Alfonzo (8/30/1999), and Shawn Green (5/23/2002) as the only players in MLB history to have 6 hits, 5 RBIs, and 4 extra base hits in a single game. Blackmon was named to the roster as a reserve for the 2014 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, the first selection of his career. In his first full season in the majors, Blackmon finished with a .288 AVG, 28 stolen bases and 19 home runs. In 2015, despite a dropoff in the RBI section, Blackmon stole a career high 43 bases while continuing to hit for a high average.

On April 14, 2016, the Rockies placed Blackmon on the disabled list with turf toe. His DL stint was short, coming back to the lineup a week later.

For the week of June 20, 2016, Blackmon was named the NL Player of the week by MLB.

At the conclusion of the 2016 regular season, Blackmon was awarded a Silver Slugger Award for the first time in his career. He finished with career highs in home runs, RBI's and in average.

For the month of May 2017, Blackmon won his first MLB Player of the Month Award, for the National League. He led the NL in hits (42) and triples (five), was second in batting average (.359), fourth in runs scored (24), tied for fifth in RBI (22), and tied for seventh with a 1.037 on-base plus slugging (OPS).

Personal life

Blackmon grew up as a fan of the Atlanta Braves. Blackmon's father, Myron, was a track and field athlete at Georgia Tech.

In 2016, Denver 7 reported that Blackmon, despite his Major League salary, drove the same 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee to spring training everyday that he drove to school every morning as a high school senior.