Nolan Arenado

Amateur career

Arenado attended El Toro High School in Lake Forest, California, where he played shortstop on the school's baseball team with fellow future major leaguer Austin Romine. In 2008, his junior year, El Toro won the California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section championship. He was named to the Los Angeles Times' All-Star team after leading his division with a .456 batting average, 32 runs batted in (RBI), and 33 runs scored.

As a senior in 2009, Arenado had a .517 batting average, a .615 on-base percentage (OBP), five home runs (HR), 14 doubles, and a triple, and was again named to the Los Angeles Times' All-Star team. He committed to attend Arizona State University on a baseball scholarship.

Draft and minor leagues (2009–12)

The Colorado Rockies selected Arenado in the second round with the 59th overall selection of the 2009 Major League Baseball draft. Rather than attend Arizona State, he signed with the Rockies, and made his professional debut with the Casper Ghosts of the Rookie-level Pioneer League, where he batted .300. In 2010, Arenado played for the Asheville Tourists of the Class A South Atlantic League, where he posted a .308 batting average and 41 doubles.

Prior to the 2011 season, Baseball America named Arenado the Rockies' third-best prospect and the 80th-best overall. Playing for the Modesto Nuts of the Class A-Advanced California League, Arenado, along with Wilin Rosario represented the Rockies at the 2011 All-Star Futures Game. Arenado's first-half totals included a .283 batting average with six home runs and 42 RBI. He finished the season with a .298 batting average and 20 home runs, leading the minor leagues with 122 RBI. Later in the year, he was named the Most Valuable Player of the Arizona Fall League (AFL) after hitting .388 with six home runs and 33 RBI. In 163 games combined in the California League and AFL in 2011, Arenado hit .315 with 201 hits, 155 RBI, 26 home runs and 44 doubles. Playing for the Tulsa Drillers of the Class AA Texas League in 2012, he was again named to appear in the All-Star Futures Game. He finished the year with a .285 batting average, 12 home runs, and 56 RBI.

2013−14

Despite a strong spring training showing in 2013, the Rockies optioned Arenado to the Colorado Springs Sky Sox of the Class AAA Pacific Coast League (PCL) to start the season. After starting with a .364 batting average, a 1.059 on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS), three home runs, and 21 RBI with Colorado Springs, Colorado designated Chris Nelson for assignment and promoted Arenado in his place on April 28. He went 0-for-3 in his debut against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field. In his second game, against the Los Angeles Dodgers, he recorded his first three major league hits, including his first home run in a 12–2 win. In his sixth game, he hit first major league grand slam and second career home run off Tampa Bay Rays pitcher David Price. On October 29, 2013, Arenado became the first rookie to win a Rawlings Gold Glove Award at third base since 1957. In his first big league season, Arenado slashed .267/.301/.405 with 10 home runs and 52 RBI. He finished tied for seventh in the voting for the National League Rookie of the Year Award with Evan Gattis, behind Jedd Gyorko, Julio Teherán, Hyun-Jin Ryu, Shelby Miller, Yasiel Puig and winner José Fernández.

The first multi-home run game of Arenado's career occurred on April 5, 2014, against Brandon McCarthy of the Arizona Diamondbacks in a 9–4 Rockies win. On May 8, Arenado broke the Rockies franchise hit streak record, which Michael Cuddyer set the previous season, by hitting safely in 28 consecutive games. On May 23, he suffered a mallet fracture of his left middle finger on a headfirst slide into second base in a game against the Atlanta Braves, and was subsequently placed on the 15-day disabled list (DL). Arenado missed 37 games due to the fracture, returning on June 28. He earned his first career National League (NL) Player of the Week Award for the week ending August 24. He batted .545 with a 1.645 OPS and 12 hits, three doubles, one triple, two home runs, three RBI, and six runs scored. Due to a chest contusion and early onset pneumonia, Arenado missed additional time at the end of the season. On the year, he batted .287/.328/.500, hitting 18 HR and driving in 61 runs. He won his second Gold Glove Award despite playing in just 111 games.

2015

In 2015, Arenado earned his second NL Player of the Week Award on June 28, hitting a major league-leading three multi-home runs games in six games, seven home runs and 14 RBI. He also scored 10 times, second-highest in the major leagues. He became an MLB All-Star for the first time as a National League reserve at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati. At the time his selection was announced, he was fifth in the majors in home runs with 24 and led in RBI with 68. He had hit more home runs in road games than at Coors Field (15 to nine), more RBI (37 to 31) and posted higher on-base (.318 to .309) and slugging (.615 to .580) percentages. Playing against the San Francisco Giants on September 5, Arenado homered in his sixth consecutive game, breaking the Rockies' team record of five which Dante Bichette and Larry Walker shared. He won his first NL Player of the Month award in September, batting .339 and leading the major leagues with 11 HR, 32 RBI, and 79 total bases. He collected an NL-leading 38 hits and was second in the league with .705 SLG.

For the 2015 season, Arenado tied Bryce Harper for the NL home run title with 42, and led the National League with 130 RBI and 354 total bases. In addition, he batted .287 with a .323 OBP, .575 SLG, 43 doubles and 13 intentional walks on his way to winning his first Silver Slugger Award for third basemen. He was the first Rockies player to lead the NL in home runs since Walker hit 49 in 1997 and the first to lead the majors in RBI since Andrés Galarraga with 150 in 1996. Additionally, Arenado set a major league record for extra base hits by a third baseman in one season with 89, surpassing Chipper Jones' total of 87 in 1999. On defense, he won his third consecutive Gold Glove Award, and, for the first time, was the major league-wide winner for third baseman of the Fielding Bible and the Wilson Defensive Player of the Year Awards. He became the second Rockies player to win the Fielding Bible at any position, following shortstop Troy Tulowitzki. The Colorado Sports Hall of Fame named Arenado the winner of their Professional Athlete of the Year Award for 2015. Arenado finished eighth in the voting for the National League MVP award, behind Harper, Paul Goldschmidt, Joey Votto, Anthony Rizzo, Andrew McCutchen, Jake Arrieta, and Zack Greinke.

2016

Arenado and the Rockies avoided salary arbitration on January 15, 2016, agreeing to a one-year, $5 million contract, a raise from $512,000 in 2015. He was named NL co-Player of the Week with Harper for April 18 after leading the NL with four home runs and 12 RBI. He carried an .852 SLG, led the NL with 23 total bases, and tied for second with seven runs scored. Arenado made his second All-Star Game, played at Petco Park in San Diego. He hit his 100th career home on run on August 8, making him the youngest player in franchise history to do so, at just under age 25 years and four months.

In September Arenado became the second player aged 25 and younger within the previous 75 seasons to drive in 125 runs in successive seasons. Overall, in 160 games, Arenado finished the year with a .294 batting average, 182 hits, 35 doubles, six triples, tied for the NL-leading 41 home runs with Chris Carter, 116 runs scored, an MLB-leading 133 RBI, 82 extra base hits, 352 total bases, 68 walks (double the amount from 2015), 10 intentional walks, a .362 OBP, a .570 SLG and a .932 OPS. Arenado won his fourth consecutive Gold Glove at the third base position, becoming the first third baseman in MLB history to win four Gold Gloves in his first four seasons, as well as his second Silver Slugger, Fielding Bible and Wilson Defensive Player of the Year Awards. He finished in fifth place in the MVP voting behind Kris Bryant, Daniel Murphy, Corey Seager and Rizzo, receiving almost double the amount of vote points as he had gotten the year before (199 points in 2016 versus 102 in 2015).

2017

Prior to the start of spring training, on January 13, 2017, Arenado and the Rockies avoided arbitration for the second year in a row by agreeing to a two-year $29.5 million contract. Arenado will receive $11,750,000 for 2017 followed by $17,750,000 during the 2018 season. On June 18, he hit for the cycle versus the San Francisco Giants. The home run was a walk off versus closer Mark Melancon, finishing off a 7−5 Rockies win. It was just the sixth time in MLB history that a cycle featured a walk-off home run; Arenado's teammate Carlos González was the previous to do so, on July 31, 2010. The 288th cycle in MLB history, Arenado's was the eighth by a Rockies player, and the 17th overall accomplished at Coors Field. During the June 28 game versus the Giants, he knocked down a line drive batted by pitcher Ty Blach as he was facing third base, spun on his stomach, and, without getting up on his feet, threw out Blach at first base.

For the first time in his career, Arenado was selected to start in the MLB All-Star Game after receiving the most fan votes of all National League third baseman. It was his third overall selection and was played at Marlins Park in Miami. Batting sixth, he collected two singles in two at bats. Arenado set career-highs with three home runs and five hits, while tying a career-high seven RBI in an 18–4 rout of the San Diego Padres on July 19. He tied the franchise record held by Jeff Cirillo and Todd Walker for the number of total bases in a single game with 14, and became the first player in Rockies history to reach both three home runs and five hits in a single game. He also became the first player in the majors to reach 80 RBI. Named Player of the Week for the fourth time of his career on July 23, Arenado hit .458/.480/1.000 with four home runs and 13 RBI in five games. He later won the Player of the Month Award for July, his second monthly award, after hitting .389/.423/.744 with eight home runs, 35 hits, 15 extra base hits, 30 RBIs and 18 runs scored in 22 games.

With a two-run home run versus José Ureña of the Miami Marlins on August 11, Arenado became the first major leaguer of 2017 to reach 100 RBI for the third year in a row, doing so in 112 games. He had batted .441 and 77 RBI with runners in scoring position (RISP) in those 112 games. He was ejected by umpire Pat Hoberg from the August 12 game in the seventh inning versus Miami for throwing his bat. Arenado's batting turn was up in the ninth inning, before Miami prevailed, 4–3. A pitch from Vance Worley on August 14 hit him on the left hand. An X-ray revealed no fractures, and he was ruled to miss the DL, but swelling resulted. On September 16 versus the Padres, Arenado drove in his 125th run of the season, becoming the first third baseman, first Rockies player, and the 11th player in major league history to drive in 125 or more runs in three successive seasons.

World Baseball Classic

Arenado played for United States national baseball team in the 2017 World Baseball Classic (WBC). On March 22, 2017, Team USA won 8–0 over the previously undefeated Puerto Rico, marking the first time ever that the United States won the WBC.

Player profile

As Arenado's' reputation as a defender has grown, he has shown to be exceptionally skilled in range, catching the ball, and throwing, including arm strength and accuracy, and maintaining that while throwing off-balance. Remarked Denver Post beat writer Patrick Saunders, "In every city I travel, writers, broadcasters and fans rave about Arenado’s magic at the hot corner."

The beginnings of Arenado's defensive prowess began after he turned professional. In the early part of his minor league journey, Arenado showed a very strong arm and soft hands, but his footwork was so inept that it neutralized the other two talents. He recalled that while a High-A Modesto, he “had really bad feet,” and “I was too lazy,” for which Modesto manager Jerry Weinstein relentlessly scolded him. Weinstein tasked him to take ground balls earlier than the other players and encouraged him to play third base like Rickey Henderson ran the basepaths. In addition, Arenado began lifting weights in earnest, and this combination helped to add the explosive movements that allow him to get to ground balls quickly. Rockies manager Bud Black marveled at how when he visited with Arenado at the campus of University of California, Irvine, in January 2017, he asked to take ground balls at third base. Black commented, “Very few big leaguers take grounders in January, because here comes February and March, and you’re gonna take thousands of them.”

Awards and accomplishments

Note: Per Baseball-Reference.com.

Personal life

Born in Newport Beach, California, Arenado was raised in Lake Forest, California, an Orange County city sandwiched between Irvine, Mission Viejo and Laguna Hills. Arenado's father, Fernando, is full-blood Cuban and his mother, Millie, a native of Queens, New York, is of Cuban and Puerto Rican ancestry. Arenado's younger brother, Jonah, plays baseball in the San Francisco Giants' organization.

Formerly, Arenado's agent was Scott Boras; however, as of November 2015, it was reported as Joel Wolfe of Wasserman Media Group.

When asked who his favorite player is, Arenado named Adrian Beltre of the Texas Rangers, also a third baseman, and former Rockie outfielder Matt Holliday. Arenado apprised that he attempts to mimic Holliday's swing, "because he stayed through the ball so much."

Longtime Dodgers play-by-play announcer Vin Scully autographed the bat with which Arenado hit his 40th home run of 2016, during Scully's last season of broadcasting, and his final series of calling Dodgers' home games.