Cardinals: Nolan Arenado returns to Denver to face old friends, chase Rockies milestone

DENVER — Nolan Arenado spent eight years in a Colorado Rockies uniform, so the St. Louis Cardinals third baseman coming back to Denver to face his former team always brings with it a flood of memories and a reunion with former teammates.

Traded from the Rockies to the Cardinals on Feb. 1, 2021, Nolan Arenado has not only changed uniforms, but has continued his evolution into the best third baseman in MLB history.

With his 300th home run on Saturday, Arenado joined an elite list of players (Ken Griffey Jr., Mike Schmidt, Andruw Jones, Johnny Bench, Ivan Rodriguez, Willie Mays, and Al Kaline) with 300 homers and 10 Gold Gloves in their careers. Of those 300 homers, 138 have come at Coors Field (136 in a Rockies uniform and a pair last season with the Cardinals), the place where he returns on Monday night.

With one homer during this series against the Rockies, Arenado will tie former teammate and friend Carlos Gonzalez (139) for the third-most homers in a career at Coors.

Playing with CarGo is one of the many memories that Arenado has in this stadium, but he also cherishes the moments he played alongside current starting pitchers German Márquez and Kyle Freeland, the pitchers who will take the mound for Colorado in the first two games of the series.

“I think it’s a little bit different when I’m facing guys like Márquez and Kyle,” Arenado said of the emotional significance of his return to Denver. “Basically, with everyone else, it goes back to just another game. The fact I’m facing former teammates that we had some good times together, it’s always kind of tough and kind of weird. Besides Charlie (Blackmon) and (Ryan) McMahon a little bit, nobody’s really there from the time I was there.”

The legacy of Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado with the Colorado Rockies

Arenado and Freeland had dinner on Sunday as a way for the Team USA teammates in the recent World Baseball Classic to catch up. It was not only a meeting of friends, but a meeting of two players seen as leaders in their respective clubhouses.

Freeland made his MLB debut in 2017 and helped pace the Rockies (with Arenado at third base) to a Wild Card berth that season, the first of two consecutive postseason appearances for Colorado. The work ethic that was a part of Arenado’s fabric in the clubhouse has now been passed down to Freeland, who shared on Monday with Patrick Saunders of The Denver Post that he admired what he saw in Arenado during his time in Colorado. Before Monday’s game, Saunders asked Arenado about that work ethic and Freeland and Blackmon carrying it forward as the legacy Arenado left behind in Denver.

“That’s really cool to hear,” Arenado said. “There are a lot of new guys that I don’t know and don’t really know me and what I did there in the clubhouse and how I am about my business. If that’s how Charlie and Kyle feel, that’s great. I watched them too. They’re hard workers also.

“It wasn’t so much I don’t think I set the example. I think we all collectively wanted to work hard and the results showed that. When you work hard, results are going to come.”

Results continue to come for the Cardinals and Arenado who added that he tries “to be a little more vocal here and there” in a clubhouse leadership role needed with the absence of Yadier Molina and Albert Pujols on this year’s St. Louis squad.

That leadership starts on Monday as Arenado tries to shake the Cardinals out of a funk that has caused the team to drop five of its last six games. He will try to lead the charge in the series opener against Márquez, a friend who is 11 strikeouts away from becoming the all-time strikeout leader for the Rockies.

“That would be awesome,” Arenado said of Márquez capturing the record.

Then he smiled.

“But hopefully it doesn’t happen tonight. That would not be good.”