Colorado Rockies: The clutch gene inside Nolan Arenado

Arguably, Nolan Arenado has been the most valuable player for the Colorado Rockies so far through the 2017 season. He has been one of the most clutch players all season. Arenado, both offensively and defensively, has come through for the Rockies when they need it the most. Let’s dive in to the numbers of how clutch Arenado has been this year.

The Glove

Arenado looks to be on his way to getting his fifth Gold Glove in five years. Prior to Wednesday’s action, the Rockies’ third basemen leads the league in assists from the hot corner with 229. He is also tied for fourth among third basemen in double plays turned. Some of those plays are routine and others like this one against the Diamondbacks that help eliminate a big inning. Arenado is currently fourth among all qualifed players in defensive war only behind Andrelton Simmons, Mookie Betts and Byron Buxton. Arenado also has 17 DRS (Defensive Runs Saved), once again fourth behind that same bunch of three. He is also in the record book now according to Sporting News’ Ryan Spaeder with both his glove and his bat, which might be the more impressive tool despite the highlight reel of plays Nolan Arenado makes at third.

The Bat

More from Rox Pile

• A Colorado Rockies Thanksgiving
• Colorado Rockies: What if Todd Helton had played football instead?
• Colorado Rockies: Charlie Blackmon out for the season
• Colorado Rockies: Injuries shift look of roster ahead of Dodgers series
• Colorado Rockies: Has Sean Bouchard earned a second look in 2023?

The Rockies have four walk-off wins in 2017. Three of the four winning RBI have come from Nolan Arenado, but none bigger than his three-run homer to complete the cycle against the San Francisco Giants. Pile that on to a walk-off single and walk with the bases loaded to win the game against the New York Mets earlier this month and you get the picture of how clutch Arenado is. Coming into Wednesday, 10 of his 27 home runs have came when the game is tied. It also should be of no surprise that the league leader in RBI also leads the league in batting average with RISP, batting .435. Even with two outs with RISP, Arenado’s average doesn’t drop off much because he is still batting .419 in those situations. In the end, even if you think the numbers don’t prove Arenado’s clutch gene, the Colorado Rockies’ twitter has confirmation of it.

Next: Where does Nolan rank among Colorado's all-time best third basemen?

Sure, he had a critical error in Tuesday’s loss to Atlanta at Coors Field. However good he is, he is human … a talented human, but a human nonetheless. According to Baseball Reference, Arenado is the 15th infielder since 1945 to reach 25+ WAR in his first five MLB seasons. That’s just one of many stats that show the greatness and clutch that lies within Arenado.