Shawon Dunston is widely regarded as having the greatest arm at short. Dunston fired the ball across the diamond with the velocity of an RPG. However, Shawon wasn’t particularly accurate. His throws could just as easily wind up twenty rows deep as they could in the first baseman’s mitt. Long-time teammate and first baseman Mark Grace’s take on Dunston’s arm:

“Dunston had a cannon for an arm. He threw harder than Nolan Ryan, Robb Nen or Rob Dibble. He could have been a closer but he’d have killed people. His ball moved, and that motion made it feel heavy. You couldn’t catch it square. It vibrated in your glove and up your arm.”

Two things about that quote stand out to me. First, Grace played 16 seasons in the bigs and was one of the slickest fielding first basemen ever. He won four Gold Gloves at first. If he couldn’t easily catch Dunston’s throws, no one could have. Second, playing first with Dunston at short sounds like it was pretty damn miserable, not to mention dangerous.

Troy Tulowitzki doesn’t have the same kind of arm strength that Dunston had, nevertheless his is still exceptional. Unlike Dunston though, Tulo has the ability to combine power and accuracy with his throws. Troy guns down runners from all around the infield, creating numerous extra outs over the course of a season. However, as impressive as Tulo’s arm is, it may not be the best shortstop arm in the Rockies’ system. According to many, prospect Hector Gomez throws even harder.
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