There was never much doubt that Nolan Arenado had exceptional talent in the field. He’s been a wizard with the leather since day one, earning the Gold Glove Award in each of his first two Major League seasons.
And so far in 2015, Arenado appears to be headed for another.
But the wizard at the hot corner is also making some big noise with his bat of late. Arenado is hitting .298 with six home runs and 18 RBI in his last 15 games – four of those home runs have come in the past seven games.
Slowly, Arenado’s MLB offensive stat line is creeping closer to his career minor league averages, which were solid in his six years before making the jump to the big leagues.
During his tenure in the minor leagues (2009 – 2012 – with 18 games in 2013 and 5 in 2014), Arenado put together a career average of .300 with an .818 OPS.
Through two years and two months in the majors, Arenado currently has a .279 average with a .787 OPS. So far in 2015, he’s hitting .289 with an impressive .908 OPS.
He’s nearly matched his minor league home run total of 49, currently sitting at 41, including 13 through the first 47 games of 2015. Though his big league RBI totals are down, comparatively; he tallied 289 minor league RBI in 1,695 at-bats, compared to 150 RBI in 1098 at-bats as of June 1 for the Rockies.
His on-base percentage is also on the rise, sitting at .330 for the season and .317 for his young career. His minor league OPB of .345 should be attainable if he can cut down on his strikeouts.
Last year’s Silver Slugger at third base, Anthony Rendon, ended the year with a .287 average, 21 home runs and an .824 OPS – numbers that are well within Arenado’s reach if his first two months of the season are in fact evidence that he’s more the hitter he was in the minors than he was in his first two years in the majors.
