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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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WASHINGTON – AUGUST 18: Garrett Atkins #27 of the Colorado Rockies fields a ground ball during a baseball game against the Washington Nationals on August 18, 2009 at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON – AUGUST 18: Garrett Atkins #27 of the Colorado Rockies fields a ground ball during a baseball game against the Washington Nationals on August 18, 2009 at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /

Number 4: Garrett Atkins (5.3 bWAR, 7.6 fWAR, parts of 7 years as a Rockie)

Garrett Atkins is a bit hard to rank considering that his best seasons were really great but he dropped like a lead balloon. He also only spent four of the seven seasons as primary third baseman. In the other three seasons, Atkins accumulated -2.3 bWAR/-1.8 fWAR so that’s obviously not what got him on this list. But in the other four seasons (the four main seasons that he was the primary third baseman), he had 7.3 bWAR/9.5 fWAR.

Here’s look at his overall stats from his Rockies tenure.

Standard Batting
Year Tm G PA AB R H 2B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ Awards
2003 COL 25 73 69 6 11 2 0 4 3 14 .159 .205 .188 .394 -2
2004 COL 15 33 28 3 10 2 1 8 4 3 .357 .424 .536 .960 135
2005 COL 138 573 519 62 149 31 13 89 45 72 .287 .347 .426 .773 93 RoY-4
2006 COL 157 695 602 117 198 48 29 120 79 76 .329 .409 .556 .965 136 MVP-15
2007 COL 157 684 605 83 182 35 25 111 67 96 .301 .367 .486 .853 113
2008 COL 155 664 611 86 175 32 21 99 40 100 .286 .328 .452 .780 96
2009 COL 126 399 354 37 80 12 9 48 41 58 .226 .308 .342 .650 64

Of the four primary seasons, two stand out offensively: 2006 and 2007. However, his fielding is what has the big differentiation in WAR between FanGraphs and Baseball-Reference.

By WAR, his best two seasons were 2005 and 2006 per Baseball-Reference but FanGraphs says that his best two seasons were 2006 and 2007.

Both sites are in agreement, though, that he was awful defensively in 2007 as he has -26 DRS from both sites.

His peak would have him at number three but considering his rise and fall was so quick and dramatic, he is at number four.

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