The Colorado Rockies finally locked up win No. 50, the last MLB club to accomplish the feat in 2015, on the season on Tuesday night against the Atlanta Braves thanks in part to some nifty glove work by third baseman Nolan Arenado. The wins may have come few and far between for the Rockies this year, but great defensive play by Arenado is one thing the Rockies have been able to depend on night in and night out – except of course for Wednesday night, when manager Walt Weiss gave Arenado a night off.

Without Arenado, Colorado managed to find a way to squeeze out its 51st victory and Arenado figures to be back in the lineup on Friday as the Rockies start a new series with the NL Wild Card-leading Pittsburgh Pirates. The night will be a tough one for Rockies fans as they see their former manager, Clint Hurdle, manning the Pittsburgh side en route to what looks likely to be the Pirates’ third consecutive playoff appearance.

There has been little to cheer for in Colorado since Hurdle’s departure, save for the emergence of Arenado as one of the game’s top defensive players. The winner of back-to-back Gold Glove awards, Arenado is currently in the driver’s seat for a third as a National League third baseman.

Among qualified players, Arenado has the second-best fielding percentage in the NL at .968, behind Washington’s Yunel Escobar who currently sports a .974 percentage. But Arenado has more than double the putouts of Escobar as well as twice as many chances. His 406 total chances are two more than the combined attempts of first and third place, Escobar and Martin Prado.

The closest qualifier to Arenado, in terms of fielding attempts is Cincinnati’s Todd Frazier, who has 80 putouts in 304 chances. Arenado’s 1048.2 are second only to Frazier’s 1091.1.

Arenado also leads qualified players in total assists and double plays and is just one game behind Frazier in total games played.

Where Arenado really jumps off the stat sheet, however, is in his range factor. This stat is calculated using total number of outs participated in, divide putouts and assists by number of innings played at a position. Frazier, who ranks fourth among qualified players, comes in at 2.38 RF. Kris Bryant of the Cubs and San Francisco’s Matt Duffy score 2.43 and 2.45, respectively, at third and second place. Arenado is truly in class by himself here, scoring a whopping 3.25 RF, good for best in baseball by a 0.26 margin over Baltimore’s Manny Machado.

The Rockies may be mired in yet another terrible season, but Arenado seems well on his way to locking up a third consecutive Gold Glove here in 2015.

Highlight Reel

Not only does Arenado bring range and consistency to the hot corner each night, he’s also capable of making highlight-reel plays at any time.

Below is a small collection of some of Arenado’s top plays from 2015, all video courtesy of MLB.com…