Colorado Rockies: Who Will Play Third Base in Arenado’s Absence?

With Nolan Arenado officially on his way to Team USA to compete in the World Baseball Classic, a big question becomes who will be taking his place at third base for the Colorado Rockies during his absence.

As is normally the case in spring training, several players will be getting some time in at the hot corner. Among those could well be Mark Reynolds, who has 773 games under his belt at third base during his nine seasons with the Arizona Diamondbacks, Cleveland Indians, Baltimore Orioles, New York Yankees, Milwaukee Brewers and St. Louis Cardinals. He played 115 games at first base for the Rockies last season, but will get some time back at third with Arenado away.

“We’re going to bounce some guys around. Don’t be surprised if you see Reynolds there,” Colorado manager Bud Black said on Saturday. “We’ll give our potential bench guys, whether it’s (Alexi) Amarista or (Cristhian) Adames, they’ll get some time there. Pat Valaika, I want to see this kid play. He had a little thumb situation but he should be getting real close to getting back in the action. I like what I see out of him. (Ryan) McMahon has played there a little bit. We’ll bounce it around.”

Black and the Rockies are viewing Arenado’s absence as an opportunity for some of the younger players and those perhaps riding on the Opening Day roster bubble to further prove their worth to the club.

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“I tell these guys all time that every day is a test,” Black said. “Every day is an opportunity to show what you can do, no matter where you play. So many of these guys are versatile and they want to be versatile. They want to show us they can move around the diamond and that we can trust them in spots and that they’re players. ‘I’ll show you.’ That’s always a player’s mindset.”