It’s that time of year again, when the Colorado Rockies have reached their inevitable slump, both on the mound and at the plate. But while the runs may not be racking up as much as they’d like right now, they can always rely on incomparable defense from Nolan Arenado.

The Rockies’ defense isn’t perfect, but nothing ever is in this game. When it comes to third baseman Arenado, however, the Rockies get as close to perfect as they come on the left side of the diamond.

Arenado committed just his third error of the 2017 season in a 5-3 Rockies victory on Wednesday night, which pulled the Reds to within one. He responded the very next inning by turning a difficult double play to end the inning.

Although he’s committed 59 errors in his entire five-year career with the Rockies, he’s only made three this season in 87 contests. Between his first error this year and his last of last season, Arenado lasted an impressive 73 games of mistake-free baseball.

“I practice [my defense] all the time. It’s something I’ve always worked on and something I always took pride in,” Arenado said. “I tried to get better at my defense. Earlier in my pro career, I wasn’t as good as teams wanted me to be, and that’s something that I wanted. I wanted to be good. It’s just something I’ve worked hard for.”

Over the years, the Rockies and their fans have become accustomed to Arenado’s daily spectacular plays at the five position, but the other teams that get to see him in action during competition tend to leave awed and inspired.

When the Chicago Cubs visited Coors Field earlier in the season, third baseman Kris Bryant took a minute to appreciate Arenado’s game, giving him high praise as someone who understands the trials of playing the position.

“You never know what to expect from him on the field,” Bryant said. “He makes unbelievable plays; you know he’s always going to give a tough at-bat. On the other team, he’s the guy that you don’t want him to beat you, but at the same time it’s really fun to watch him play.”

Arenado, always humble, appreciates the admiration from his peers.

“I think they respect the way I play and I appreciate that, just like I respect them,” Arenado said.

More specifically, Bryant said he admired the way Arenado could make a bare-handed play with ease day in and day out, something he has never personally been able to master. For Arenado, it’s become second-nature after years of hard work.

“I feel like I started to get good at it as I got in the big leagues,” Arenado said. “In the minors, I wasn’t very good. It would always come up, but when you do it so many times, you start to get used to it. I work on the bare-hand a lot and it comes natural now.”

That natural ability has robbed opposing hitters of infield hits for four years running, noted by Arenado’s four consecutive Gold Glove awards. He’s on track for another this year, leading all third basemen with a .987 fielding percentage and MLB-best 1.8 DWAR.

Arenado was a defensive kleptomaniac even little league, where he would often rob his teammates of coveted opportunities.

“I was diving for balls and taking balls from other positions, like I’d play short and they’d hit it to second, and I’d go catch it, so that’s just kind of how I’ve always been,” Arenado reminisced, laughing.

Just a week or so ago, he did the exact same thing to Trevor Story. But when he’s not stealing plays from his teammates, Arenado’s wowing the audience by making plays much like the one he made against the San Francisco Giants last week. After stopping a line drive from Ty Blach in a failed attempt to make the catch mid-dive, he gripped the rolling ball, flipped onto his back, practically lying down, and threw the ball straight into Mark Reynolds‘ glove.

Against the Cleveland Indians in Denver earlier this season, Arenado made another spectacular play (featured image above) when, after nabbing a long throw from Charlie Blackmon in center field, he stopped Francisco Lindor‘s attempt to slide into third as he, no joke, fell backwards full-stretch and tagged his leg before he could make it to the bag. Although the call was initially called safe, the umps took the time to review the play and amended their error.

Not impressed yet? How about the “matador” play that he made against St. Louis back in May? In the blink of an eye, Arenado pulled an impressive spin move to ground a ball from Yadier Molina, then took his sweet time to get the ball to Reynolds at first.

How about that fielded bunt from Cincinnati’s Luis Castillo that Arenado charged, just a few feet from the first base line, and he aaaalmost turned over for a double play? You can’t make this stuff up.

https://twitter.com/OldComiskey/status/882053169701949440?s=03

And those are just some of his best plays from this season.

Almost every day, he elicits similar reactions from players, media and fans alike, and he shows no sign of stopping anytime soon.

I could go on for days about how unbelievable this guy is on the left corner of the diamond, but you don’t need me to tell you that. You’d have to be blind not to see it. There’s never been a player like Nolan Arenado at third base, and there may never be, ever again. You’ve just got to enjoy it while you can. The Rockies certainly do.