Two third basemen were honored for their hot starts in MLB: Houston Astros’ Alex Bregman and St. Louis Cardinals‘ Nolan Arenado.
They received the Player of the Week awards for the American and National League, respectively.
Arenado in particular is beyond white-hot for the Cards.
“MLB says Alex Bregman, Nolan Arenado are the first AL/NL Players of the Week this season. Arenado is hitting .500 over the first three games with two homers and a 1.788 OPS. #STLCards,” Katie Woo of The Athletic tweeted on Monday.
MLB says Alex Bregman, Nolan Arenado are the first AL/NL Players of the Week this season.
Arenado is hitting .500 over the first three games with two homers and a 1.788 OPS. #STLCards
— Katie Woo (@katiejwoo) April 11, 2022
Arenado is slashing .500/.538/1.250 on the young season: clearly, he is seeing the ball as the size of the sun.
He already has two home runs in the first three games, with four runs scored and seven RBI.
Arenado Wants To Improve Last Season’s Numbers
It’s obviously unsustainable for a long season, but Arenado looks eager to improve upon last year’s numbers.
In 2021, his first season as the third baseman of the Cardinals, the former Colorado Rockies’ franchise player slashed .255/.312/.494 with 34 home runs, 105 RBI, and 81 runs scored.
He wasn’t quite as productive as he was in Colorado, but it was a rock-solid season that was important in St. Louis’ quest to the postseason, one that ended in a heartbreaking Wild Card Game loss against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Despite his less than ideal OBP, Arenado remains a comfortably above-average player due to his power and his defense.
And if this year’s start is any indication, he may be ready to have a bounce-back season when it comes to average and on-base percentage.
He has been so good for so long that we often forget how hot Arenado can get over a week or week and a half period.
As it turns out, he was perhaps MLB’s hottest hitter over the first three games.
Leave a Reply