Saunders: Baseball fans ‘can’t help but love’ Rockies 3B Arenado
May 23, 2017, 10:53 AM
For the Colorado Rockies faithful, “Nolan being Nolan” isn’t so much as a surprise anymore as it is almost routine.
Those who watch the Rockies — fans, coaches, media of both in-town and out of town varieties — have grown accustomed to the marvel of Nolan Arenado and his golden glove.
“I travel extensively in the NL West, and everybody in the NL West knows about Nolan,” Patrick Saunders, Denver Post Rockies reporter, told “Schlereth & Evans” on Monday. “You get the guys from LA, San Francisco, Arizona, and San Diego, they all know him.”
But when Colorado travels to places they don’t often travel, for instance, Minnesota to play the Twins last week, fans are still discovering the spectacle of Arenado.
“When we were in Minnesota, Nolan made a couple of ‘Nolan’ plays, and it was the writers, certainly, up in the press box or the broadcasters who mentioned it, but you could hear the oohs and ahhs from the fans too,” Saunders said. “And it happened this weekend as well, where people just see some of the plays he makes, and it’s a little bit of a gasp.”
That play this weekend, a sharp liner Arenado stabbed a Cincinnati Reds bullet down the line, threw it from his knees, and collapsed onto his back.
“And the fans loved it,” Saunders said. “If you like baseball, you can’t help but love Nolan Arenado.”
Arenado sits among the league’s top hitters in batting average (.291), OPS (.937), and home runs (12), among other offensive metrics, but his defense — with a league-leading 1.23 defensive WAR — has the Rockies third baseman on pace for a record-setting fifth straight Gold Glove to start a career.
But, for Saunders, it’s Arenado’s enthusiasm, day in and day out during a season that charitably can be categorized as grueling at times, that he’s most impressed with.
“The thing that I love so much about Nolan, he still plays with the joy of a little kid. He can’t wait to get out there. It doesn’t matter if it’s the middle of summer and he’s on a 10-game road trip, Nolan loves to play baseball,” Saunders said.
“And it shows. I think it’s contagious to his teammates, and I think other fans, regardless of who they’re rooting for, appreciate it.”
Follow digital content producer Johnny Hart on Twitter: @johnnyhart7.