Nolan Arenado finishes web gem with throw from his back

Nolan Arenado has won four straight Gold Gloves, and he showed why on Wednesday.

Even with an eight-game losing streak in progress, the Colorado Rockies are still 47-34 this season and one of the most surprising teams in baseball while on a 94-win pace. Third baseman Nolan Arenado has been one of the driving forces for the team thus far, with a .292./.344/.548 slash-line with 15 home runs, 59 RBI and 27 doubles entering Wednesday’s action.

Arenado has been a National League All-Star each of the last two years, and he’ll surely make it three in a row with a midseason trip to Miami in a couple weeks. He has also won a Gold Glove in four straight years, backed up by advanced data over that span (84 total Defensive Runs Saved). In 2017, Arenado has been credited with 13 Defensive Runs Saved, and he leads the National League in defensive WAR (per Baseball Reference).

During Wednesday afternoon’s game, San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Ty Blach made what looked like a solid bid for a base hit with a hard ground ball toward the hole in the left side of the infield. Arenado was having none of it though.

If it hadn’t been a pitcher running out of the batter’s box, Arenado may not have recorded an out. But he reacted quickly to not quite fielding the ball cleanly, and made an on-target throw from his back. First baseman Mark Reynolds made a nice stretch to finish the play, which is important, but under the circumstances he had it pretty easy with Arenado’s throw essentially getting there in the air.

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The Rockies lost the game 5-3, despite Arenado going 2-for-4 with two RBI to go along with his fantastic web gem. After an off day on Thursday, Colorado will start an important weekend series against the Arizona Diamondbacks in Phoenix Friday night.