Colorado Rockies morning after: It was Nolan Arenado, not Coors Field

Shortly after Nolan Arenado blasted a ball 482 feet onto the Coors Field concourse on Tuesday night, here came the takes about the Colorado Rockies home park.

OK, we get it. Denver is floating up there in space in some fans’ minds. After all, there’s no way that humans could actually exist at a mile high and (gasp!) play baseball by the same rules as “flatlanders,” right? We’ve heard it all before, haven’t we Colorado Rockies fans?

Hit a home run in Denver? Coors. It’s the age-old response … with the key word in there being “old.”

The fact is this: Nolan Arenado obliterated a baseball on Tuesday night that would’ve cleared the fences at Busch Stadium, T-Mobile Park, Petco Park or any other Major League park, stadium or field you can name. At 482 feet, there was no “Coors” about it. It was a moonshot. Plain and simple.

Check it out for yourself.

The 2-1 pitch from St. Louis starter Michael Wacha never stood a chance and ended up out of the stadium (on one bounce, going in between the merchandise store and the ice cream shop.

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Arenado’s blast was the longest of his career during the Statcast era (dating back to 2015), eclipsing his previous best of 464 feet on September 13, 2018 against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Per Colorado’s dynamite PR team, it was also Arenado’s 500th career extra-base hit, making him the fourth player to collect 500 or more extra-base hits as a member of the Rockies. He joined Todd Helton (998), Larry Walker (599) and Carlos Gonzalez (543) in that exclusive club.

It was also all the Rockies needed in a 2-1 win over St. Louis. “Coors” all you want but Arenado is making his case for Cooperstown.

And, just for good measure, lest you forget how good Nolan Arenado is, he made another highlight reel defensive play in the third inning to get Harrison Bader at first. Diving to his left, throwing while on the ground and (with the help of a Daniel Murphy tag) getting Bader before he reached first.

No one does that better than Nolan Arenado. No one.

In a lost season, Arenado could be just playing out the rest of the campaign. There is little left for the six-time Gold Glover and four-time Silver Slugger to prove and there is little for the Rockies to gain from his efforts, other than playing spoiler. Yet, here he was on Tuesday night, reminding the MLB universe just how special of a talent he is and how much he loves to play the game.

Need a reason to watch the Rockies the rest of the season? Let that be Nolan. Along with the defensive wizardry, he has a shot to post his third career campaign with 40 or more homers (in seven seasons) as well as his fourth season with 111 or more RBI.

Don’t take these moments for granted. We’re witnessing greatness on the diamond from a generational talent right now and it has nothing to do with where Nolan Arenado plays with home games.