Colorado Rockies: The top 5 home run hitters in franchise history

Who are the top 5 home run hitters in Colorado Rockies franchise history? Let’s dive into the record books and find out.

Dig into the annals of Colorado Rockies franchise lore and you’ll see some impressive names dotting the record books, including the greatest power hitters to ever wear purple. The names include a Hall of Famer and members of the Blake Street Bombers, a group that combined for 985 home runs between them in the days before a humidor was established at 20th and Blake.

Let’s meet the top 5 home run hitters in Colorado Rockies history

We start the list at the top and with Todd Helton, who has logged some almost untouchable numbers during his 17 seasons in a Rockies uniform. Among those are playing in 2,247 games for Colorado and accumulating 7,962 at-bats during that time. To put that in perspective, current Rockies outfielder Charlie Blackmon is in second place in both categories at 1,269 games played and 4,827 at-bats.

Helton’s legendary numbers extend over to home runs as well. In all, Helton hit 369 home runs during his days with the Rockies. That includes a five-year stretch from 2000-04 when Helton would be named an All-Star in each season and slash a combined .349/.450/.643 with 186 homers.

In second place in Rockies home run lore is Larry Walker, who was recently inducted as Colorado’s first-ever player in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Walker has 258 home runs, including 49 in his MVP season of 1997.

Right behind Walker is fellow Blake Street Bomber Vinny Castilla, who totaled 239 in his nine seasons with the Rockies. The slugging third baseman would hit 40 or more in three consecutive campaigns from 1996-98, including a career-high 46 in 1998.

Speaking of slugging third basemen, Nolan Arenado slides into fourth place on Colorado’s home run list with 235. In five consecutive seasons from 2015-19, Arenado hit 37 or more homers each year, including a career-high 42 in 2015.

Finally in our top five list is Carlos Gonzalez, who logged 227 during his decade in Colorado. His career-high 40 homers in 2015, helping him earn a Silver Slugger.

So who is the current Colorado Rockies player with the most home runs? That would be Blackmon, who will enter the 2022 season with 191 home runs, ranking him seventh on the list. With Blackmon just 10 behind Dante Bichette (201 homers) and sixth place on the list, will he catch him in 2022? That’s one of the things we will be watching when the Rockies open the season on March 31 in Los Angeles against the Dodgers.