Strike 3: It’s more than fair to be discouraged, even down right pessimistic about the upcoming Colorado Rockies baseball season. The oddsmakers are promising a third straight 100-loss season. A scant few folks believe the Rockies will be appreciably better than they have been the past two seasons.

But that doesn’t mean there won’t be elements of the home team’s game that aren’t well worth watching. In the Rockies case, it’s their defense.

The Rockies could be among the very best defensive teams in all of MLB. They will send out a pair of Gold Glove winning defenders in shortstop Ezequiel Tovar and center fielder Brenton Doyle almost every night. They also have Gold Glove nominee Ryan McMahon at third base and standout defenders in left field and behind the plate.

And then there’s the sensational glove work of Michael Toglia over at first base.

Toglia’s all or nothing offense has been the dominant narrative surrounding the fourth year player out of UCLA. The switch hitting Toglia hit 25 home runs last season with 55 RBIs, while also striking out 147 times in just 116 games. And that strikeout rate was an improvement over the year before. Gulp.

While the young first baseman works hard on making better contact at the plate this spring, he’s also providing Gold Glove caliber defensive play at a position that’s oftentimes overlooked by those who evaluate such things for a living.

“Defense at first base is very underrated,” said former Rockies manager Clint Hurdle, who is now a special assistant to the general manager for the team. “It allows the other infielders to be themselves, to be free to try to make great plays, not just the routine ones.”

Advanced analytics like WAR and “Defensive Runs Saved” do not place nearly as much emphasis on the glove work by slick fielding first baseman as they should. Perhaps there’s a need for a new metric called “Defensive Errors Saved.” How many times have we seen Gold Glove-winning infielders like Troy Tulowitzki and Nolan Arenado make spectacular pickups followed by nearly impossible throws that required a great play at the receiving end to get the out? Throughout baseball, how many “Web Gems” have we seen credited to the first baseman who dug a low throw out of the dirt to get an important out?

Ask either Nolan or Tulo how many errors were saved by stalwart defenders like Todd Helton and Mark Reynolds over at first base, and they wouldn’t be able to give you anything close to an exact number. There were too many to count.

The Rockies franchise might not have a great history at a position like catcher, for example, but they’ve had a good number of fantastic fielders play first base. Back at the very beginning, “The Big Cat” Andres Galarraga was known for his hitting talents as one of the Blake Street Bombers, yet he got his nickname because of his award winning glove work. Then there was hall of famer Helton, equally spectacular with the glove, plus Justin Morneau, Michael Cuddyer and Reynolds making game saving picks at first base.

Now Toglia has that mantle, and his talents make it clear that a Gold Glove could be in his future, too.

Other than pitchers and designated hitters, everyone needs to be a two-way player in baseball. Toglia needs to be better offensively. Still, the best of the best don’t let struggles at the plate impact their defense, and vice versa. When Toglia finally gains that balance and finds his consistent stroke, he has the physical tools to be an All-Star.

First things first.