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Colorado Rockies: Top Five Third Basemen in Franchise History

By Noah Yingling

DENVER, CO - SEPTEMBER 12: Nolan Arenado #28 of the Colorado Rockies plays third base during the game against the St. Louis Cardinals at Coors Field on September 12, 2019 in Denver, Colorado. The Cardinals defeated the Rockies 10-3. (Photo by Rob Leiter/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
DENVER, CO - SEPTEMBER 12: Nolan Arenado #28 of the Colorado Rockies plays third base during the game against the St. Louis Cardinals at Coors Field on September 12, 2019 in Denver, Colorado. The Cardinals defeated the Rockies 10-3. (Photo by Rob Leiter/MLB Photos via Getty Images) /
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SAN FRANCISCO, CA – CIRCA 1994: Charlie Hayes #13 of the Colorado Rockies goes down and ready to make a play on the ball against the San Francisco Giants during a Major League Baseball game circa 1994 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, California. Hayes played for the Rockies from 1993-94. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images)
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – CIRCA 1994: Charlie Hayes #13 of the Colorado Rockies goes down and ready to make a play on the ball against the San Francisco Giants during a Major League Baseball game circa 1994 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, California. Hayes played for the Rockies from 1993-94. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images) /

Third base has been one of the strongest positions in Colorado Rockies franchise history.

For the Colorado Rockies, third base has been a strong point on most of their teams. That is mainly because of the play of two guys for nearly half of the franchise’s history.

If you are a current fan of the Rockies and one that knows some history, you can probably guess the top two players on the list are going to be but the other three may be a bit surprising depending on how well you remember the Rockies third basemen of yesteryear.

Let’s take a look back down memory lane and for number five, we will have to back all the way to the first third baseman of the Rockies.

Number 5: Charlie Hayes (4.1 bWAR, 4.8 fWAR, 2 years as a Rockie)

Charlie Hayes spent two of his 14 year MLB career with the Rockies and his best MLB season came as a Rockie. In the Rockies’ inaugural season of 1993, Hayes was in his age-28 season and he was, by OPS+, the Rockies second-best hitter, behind first baseman Andres Galarraga.

In 157 games, Hayes hit .305/.355/.522 with 25 home runs, 98 RBI, an NL leading 45 doubles, and an OPS+ of 118. He played to a 3.3 bWAR/3.9 fWAR that season.

He regressed a bit in 1994 as during the strike-shortened season, he hit .288/.348/.433 with 10 home runs, 50 RBI, 23 doubles, and an OPS+ of 90 in 113 games. He played to a 0.8 bWAR/0.9 fWAR.

The Rockies got Hayes from the New York Yankees in the 1992 expansion draft and after the 1994 season, he left the Rockies in free agency. He went to Philadelphia for the second stint of his MLB career. He later signed with Pittsburgh and was traded to the Yankees (for his second tenure there) in 1996. He helped the Yankees win the World Series in 1996 as he caught the final out in foul territory at third base to win the World Series.

He bounced around to a few other teams before last playing with Houston in 2001.

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