Colorado Rockies Countdown: Top Five Left Fielders

25 years of Major League baseball in the Rocky Mountains is nearly upon us. In celebration, Rox Pile is taking a journey through Colorado Rockies history and taking a look at the best players at every position. Our next stop? Left field.

In our last countdown, we featured the Colorado Rockies’ greatest shortstops. For a position that is defensively focused, our shortstop countdown featured one of the greatest Rockies player ever and featured some rare power hitters for the position. Now shifting to left-field, we see the offensive numbers once again become a primary factor in the evaluation process.

To compile our rankings, we used FanGraphs‘ list for career Wins Above Replacement (fWAR), which serves as a great guideline for positional players. The fWAR statistic allows one to evaluate a player’s contribution over time with a specific team. Therefore, fWAR allows us to completely negate what a player has done in their career while not wearing the purple and black.

Also as a general rule, this list consists of players that have at least 500 plate appearances with the club. The 500 PA rule gives a large enough sample size for accurate evaluation. As an added stipulation, the players on our list needed to have played a majority of their innings in the field at the position being evaluated. Moving out the outfield it gets a little tricky seeing that outfield players can usually play multiple spots.

Without further ado, here is Rox Pile’s list of the top left-fielders to ever sport purple pinstripes. Let us know in the comments section what you think!

Next: Show Me The Rankings!

4.  Seth Smith (2007-2011, fWAR 5.7)

Drafted in the second-round from the 2004 draft by Colorado, Seth Smith was famous for being Eli Manning’s college back-up rather for what he did on the baseball field. But once Smith broke through to the majors in 2007, Smith would go on to earn himself the nickname ‘Mr. Late Night’ for his clutch hitting late in tight games.

Smith would spend the first five years of his career with the Rockies before being traded to the Oakland Athletics. In his short time in Colorado, Smith would hit for a .275 average with 51 home runs, and 181 RBIs. Other than his clutch hitting, Smith didn’t make a huge impact on the Rockies organization as a whole, but he sure did provide for some great individual moments, while also playing a key role on the 2009 playoff squad.

Smith also earned a spot on the 2007 World Series squad despite only playing in seven regular season games. In six at-bats in the ’07 playoffs, Smith collected three hits but had the misfortune of being the last out in the World Series.

Not being blessed with blazing speed, Smith oddly enough has one of eight inside-the-park home runs in Colorado history. Since being traded Smith has become an MLB journeyman, spending one year in San Diego, two years in Oakland, and now in his second season with Seattle at the age of 33.

Next: The Blake Bomber

3.  Dante Bichette (1993-1999, fWAR 6.6)

As one of the original ‘Blake Street Bombers’, Dante Bichette holds several historic moments in Colorado history that you won’t find in a box score or leaderboard. In case you ever find yourself in a trivia situation, Bichette hit the Rockies first ever franchise home run, and also walked the Rockies off in their franchise home opener with a two-run shot in the bottom of the 14th against the New York Mets.

By leading the National League in hits with 219 in 1998, Bichette is the Rockies single-season record holder for hits in a season. Bichette would finish his Rockies tenure with a .316 batting average, which is good enough for third all-time in Rockies history.

Bichette also led the NL in hits in Colorado’s 1995 playoff season with 197. 1995 would be Bichette’s best as a Rockie as he finished second in the MVP race (although all seven of his years in Colorado were pretty darn good). Bichette lead the NL in home runs (40), RBIs (128), and slugging percentage (.620) to accompany a .340 average on a Colorado team that won 77 games in a 144 game season.

Bichette made the All-Star Game on four occasions in his 14-year career. All came with Colorado. Dante played for five organizations in his big league tenure. Dante retired with a .299 average, 274 home runs, and 401 doubles. Dante currently serves in the Rockies organization as a special assistant. Dante’s son, Dante Jr., participated in the Little League World Series and was ultimately drafted 51st-overall in the 2011 draft by the New York Yankees.

Next: Gone On Holliday

2.  Matt Holliday (2004-2008, fWAR 20.2)

Drafted in the seventh-round of the amateur draft, Matt Holliday started his career with Colorado in 1998. Making his debut in 2004, Holliday made an immediate and significant impact on the Rockies organization. In only his third year with the club, Matt served as the catalyst for the Rockies only World Series team. As a result, Holliday will always have a placeholder in Rockies history. The Stillwater, OK native ranks second all-time in batting average for a Rockie at a .319 average.

Spending only five seasons in Denver, Holliday pulled in a lot of hardware in a short time. Holliday represented the Rockies on three separate occasions at the All-Star Game while winning three Silver Sluggers and finishing second in one of the tightest MVP races since the early 1990s. The Rockies ’07 World Series season would be Holliday’s greatest individually in Colorado.

Holliday led the National League in hits (216), doubles (50), RBIs (137), total bases (386) and average (.340) while also managing to lead all of baseball in forearm size. Matt would ultimately lose out to Jimmy Rollins in the MVP race in 2007, but would be greeted in Colorado as the people’s MVP. As consolation, Holliday did earn the National League Championship Series MVP as the Rockies swept their way through Rollins’ Phillies and Arizona on the way to the franchise’s first ever World Series.

Holliday’s greatest individual moment in Rockies fans eyes has to be the role he played in the one-game playoff against San Diego at the end of 2007. Holliday had two hits in six at-bats that game while driving in two and launching a triple in the bottom of the 13th inning.

Holliday had a defensive blunder earlier in the game which gave San Diego the lead late and appeared to blow the game. Holliday would make up for his blunder by scoring on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of 13th to send Colorado to its first postseason since 1995. Whether Holliday actually touched the plate to score that final run… well, it just depends on who you ask.

Now in his age 36 season Holliday has spent the last eight seasons in St. Louis. Over his 13-year career Holliday has a career .303 average, 293 home runs, and 447 doubles. Holliday has made the All-Star Game seven times. Holliday’s 2007 season stills stands as the best of his career.

Colorado failed to sign Holliday to an extension after the 2008 campaign. Opting for a better deal on free agent market, Colorado had no choice but to ship Holliday out of town before the 2009 season in order to get a return. What was that return? Well… Just say it worked out alright.

Next: The G.O.A.T

1.  Carlos Gonzalez (2008-2016, fWAR 22.6)

If you’ve been paying attention, Carlos Gonzalez has been playing almost exclusively in right field these days, but CarGo has actually logged the majority of his big league innings in left. In conjunction, CarGo is the only active Rockie on our list, so his legacy in purple is far from over (despite those pesky trade deadline rumors).

As things currently sit, Carlos has his name littered all over the Rockies’ all-time leaderboard, but some of the things that stick out are the fact that he ranks third all-time in stolen bases (110) while also ranking fifth all-time in club home runs (195).

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As a highly touted five-tool prospect, Gonzalez made his way to Colorado via Matt Holliday’s exit. Originally signed as an international free agent in 2002 by Arizona, Cargo was traded to Oakland and then eventually to Colorado in 2008 after it became apparent Holliday would not re-sign with Colorado at the end of his contract. Ex-general manager Dan O’Dowd sure didn’t get a lot of things right, but the CarGo trade was one of his best moments.

2010 was CarGo’s best so far in a Rockies’ uniform. In only his second full season in Colorado, Carlos won his lone batting title by leading the National League with 197 hits and 351 total bases. CarGo’s offensive output was good enough to earn him a third-place finish in the MVP voting while also winning his first of three Gold Gloves and his first of two Silver Sluggers.

Largely admired around the league, CarGo has one of the best swings in all of baseball. To relive those moments when the ball exploded off of his bat and gave fans chills click the link below.

Next: The Biggest Hits of Cargo's Career

Injuries have always been a hamper on CarGo in his time with Colorado. Carlos has only played in 130 games or more in a season three times in his nine-year career. The optimism is that Cargo played in a career high 153 games in 2015 and is showing no sign of slowing down in 2016.