Nolan Arenado has come out swinging in Spring Training, literally, he hasn’t taken a walk yet but he does have three bombs. For a kid who had a down year and some questioned his mental preparedness he has come out swinging to start Spring Training in an effort to get a strong look and make his case for the Colorado Rockies starting third baseman to start the 2013 season.
In 14 at-bats Arenado has posted a triple slash of .357/.357/1.071. He has only struck out once, not taken a walk but four of his five hits have gone for extra bases (three of them wall clearing shots).
And check out the perennial All-Star pitchers he has taken deep:
- On February 25th against the Texas Rangers Arenado blasted Neil Ramirez in the eighth inning. Ramirez is a household name in the Ramirez household. He has played in the PCL (AAA) twice and has a career minor league EAR of 4.52. He has not played in the Bigs. Yet. But when he does I bet it is in a middle reliever roll!
- On March 2nd against the Oakland A’s Arenado showed Andrew Wener what pitching against muscle-bound-third-baseman is all about and took him deep in the sixth inning. Werner is a top prospect who, well, he wasn’t drafted out of school, but, um, he did appear in two games with the San Diego Padres last season.
- On March 3rd against those same A’s, this time at Salt River, Arenado took Oakland starting pitcher A.J. Griffin out on a long ball date. This one might be worth remembering as Griffin went 7-1 with the A’s last year while posting a 3.15 ERA in 82 1/3 innings and helped the Athletics win the AL West.
OK, so maybe we need to take this early hot start from Arenado with a grain of salt, but in all seriousness why can’t he start Opening Day for the Rockies? If he truly is the third baseman of the future for the Rockies why not let him cut his teeth in the Major Leagues in 2013? The Rockies aren’t winning the division in 2013, heck, they might not win 70 games. What does the team have to gain by giving Chris Nelson or Jordan Pacheco time at third? Nelson and Pacheco don’t have the upside that Arenado has at the plate and they surely don’t have the glove that Arenado brings to third base. In a year in which the Rockies pitching will surely struggle again the team cannot give away outs in the field and the better the defensive unit that Walt Weiss can run out on a daily basis will do the team good.
According to Baseball Info Solutions Nelson and Pacheco rated worst on the Rockies in Defensive Runs Saved in 2012. Nelson cost the team 22 runs and Pacheco 14. Just to test against another defensive metric; according to Ultimate Zone Rating on Fangraphs Nelson was worst on the team (of those who saw at least 200 innings defensively) in UZR/150 and Pacheco was fourth worst.
Nelson and Pacheco are liabilities in the field. By all accounts Arenado is a good defensive third baseman.
If Arenado can continue to hold his own at the plate this spring there is no reason to send him to the minor leagues to start the season. Let’s see Arenado and Troy Tulowitzki man the right side of the infield. While I don’t really buy this, some would say that by having Arenado at third it will also help Tulo stay healthy. The rationale is that Arenado will cover more ground to his left, thus saving Tulo from having to cover as much to his right and help save his legs.
Give it a few more weeks and hopefully 70+ at-bats and see where Arenado is at, but even if his slash drops to .270/.320/.400 I would rather see him at third to start the year than Pacheco or Nelson.
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10 comments
Michael
March 4, 2013 at 8:50 AM (UTC -6)
I agree that the Rox are going nowhere with Pacheco or Nelson at 3rd but Arenado was by all accounts I read about not just poor behind the plate but lazy in the field. If he had that much trouble competing in AA playing half as many games with the whole baseball world watching I think he probably has some things to work on in the minors. Your general point is well taken though, the Rox are going nowhere this year so they need to see what their prospects have to offer. I think Arenado, Wheeler, and Story could use the time developing their skills through the system but guys like Pomeranz and Chatwood need to be left on the roster, given a job and left to succeed or fail not jerked around like Tracy loved to do.
CodenameDuchess
March 4, 2013 at 12:28 PM (UTC -6)
This will be a financial decision. It will have nothing to do with the Rockies competitiveness or Arenado’s play. He will be sent to AA and if he continues to rake he will be called up in June so that the organization can slow down his clock.
It’s the smart thing to do. If Nelson starts the season as hot as he finished 2012 he may have some trade value. At that point they can bring in Arenado or if he regresses in AA they can pull up Wheeler from AAA, start Pacheco or start DJLM. It gives the teams a lot of options. It may not be what the fans want to see but it’s the smart move.
Furthermore, there is a log jam at 3rd right now. Nelson/Pacheco/DJLM/Wheeler/Arenado are all options. If Arenado jumps the whole group you really kill the trade value of some of these guys. Especially Nelson as he has no more options remaining. there is no point of keeping him on the team if he is not starting. I hope the Rockies actually slow play this and manage to get some value from Nelson/Pacheco/Wheeler/DJLM, I don’t know if they can pull it off but I think it is the thought process that smarter front offices i.e. Oakland/Tampa Bay would consider.
JD
March 4, 2013 at 12:43 PM (UTC -6)
Saying the Rockies have a logjam at third base is like saying the Arizona Cardinals have a logjam at QB.
Rico Rodriquez
March 4, 2013 at 9:55 PM (UTC -6)
If Arenado shows any level of improvement in the spring, I think they may as well start the season with him at third. I understand with certain players wanting to ‘keep an eye on the clock’, but I don’t think anybody is ready to confuse him with Longoria or Trout or anything. Pacheco should be purely a bench player, as he can hit a bit, but has no value with the glove (and when people talk about him at catcher, I just laugh). Nelson can be a jack of all trades, playing third and second when needed, as he can also hit a bit, and has some speed.
I think the first real test of Weiss as a manager, to me, will be the manner in which he handles player development. Tracy was such a manhandler of that ( aside from the CarGo play in 2009 when he just stuck him in rightfield and left him there…and look what happened) that if Weiss doesn’t cling to the same fetish for ‘veteran goodness’ that Ol’ Jim did, he’s already an upgrade.
Travis Lay
March 5, 2013 at 8:28 AM (UTC -6)
Arenado went deep again yesterday.
TroyF
March 5, 2013 at 4:01 PM (UTC -6)
Read all of my posts about Arenado for the last two years. Rosario before that.
The organization looks at guys in Tulsa like they are horrible if they struggle with the bat there. Guess what? It’s tough as hell to hit HR there. Really tough.
Beyond that, Arenado was a highly regarded prospect last year who was sent to AA and struggled early. He got frustrated and had some problems with attitude. Gee, imagine that, a 20 year old who was told he was God only to get frustrated and have a down year. You know what the perfect thing to do to a kid like that is? Blast him through the media and tell everyone on earth he’s a piece of human garbage.
OK, that’s what you do if you are the Rockies. You make sure slam the kid to anyone and everyone because. . . .um, because.
There is no doubt we’ll trot out Nelson and Pacheco to start the year at 3B. there is no doubt that both of those players are better suited as utility players than everyday major league players. There is no doubt in my mind how ridiculous this whole thing is. A year ago he’s regarded as a top 20 prospect in the game, this year he’s out of the top 100 because he had the audacity to struggle as a 21 year old in AA.
If they want to hold his service clock down and wait until May, I’m ok with that. But I’m not ok, never have been ok and never will be ok with publicly blasting a top prospect. It doesn’t help us in anyway.
Luke
March 6, 2013 at 4:11 PM (UTC -6)
I agree, Travis. Give the kid a shot!!
Dan
March 6, 2013 at 6:26 PM (UTC -6)
Duchess is right – like it or not, it would be foolish for the organization to start the year with Arenado in the big leagues. Let’s not start the clock on him yet – I want him here when we have a chance to contend.
Eric Garcia
March 7, 2013 at 3:49 AM (UTC -6)
Right, but it should still be this year. I’ll be disappointed if he’s not the everyday third baseman by July.
CodenameDuchess
March 7, 2013 at 1:29 PM (UTC -6)
Exactly, the second the super two clock expires (sometime in June) Arenado should be on the next plane. I just hope that by that point Nelson/Pacheco/Wheeler/DJLM have produced enough to have some trade value. Prospects, relief pitching, draft picks a starter in the twilight of his career, whatever, just don’t give up assets for nothing.