Nolan Arenado
United StatesNolan Arenado is an American professional baseball player in the Major League. As of the 2021 season, he plays for the St Louis Cardinals as the third baseman. He bats on his right and throws with his right as well. Arenado attended El Tor HS in Lake Forest. He was drafted into the MLB Amateur Draft in 2009. He is nicknamed ‘Sandblaster’ and is also called Nado. In addition to the Cardinals, he has also played for the Colorado Rockies. He also represented the United States in the World Baseball Classic in 2017.
Nolan James Arenado was born on April 16, 1991, in Newport Beach, California. He is of Cuban and Puerto Rican ancestry. He is first cousins with Josh Fuentes, who plays for the Rockies as an infielder. Growing up, Arenado was a big fan of the Dodgers. In high school, he played shortstop with fellow future MLB players Matt Chapman and Austin Romine. He helped his high school team win the California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section. This led him to be named to the All-Star team of the Los Angeles Times.
He was scouted by Arizona State University and was offered a college baseball scholarship. But during the 2009 MLB Draft, he was picked by the Colorado Rockies. He chose the Rockies over ASU and made his debut with Casper Ghosts. In 2010, he played for the Asheville Tourists. Before the start of the 2011 season, he was ranked as 3rd best prospect by Baseball America. He played for the Rockies in the 2011 All-Star Futures Game.
The Rockies promoted him to the major league in 2013. At the end of the season, he had won his first Golden Glove Award. He sat out on 37games in 2014 while he was recovering from a mallet fracture. On his return in August, he received a Player of the Week Award, his first. In 2015, he is noted for having won both the Fielding Bible Award and the Wilson Defensive Player of the Year Award. In that year, he was also named by the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame as the Professional Athlete of the Year.
In both 2016 and 2017, Arenado and the Rockies agreed to one-year salary deals. In February 2019, it was announced that Arenado had agreed to an eight-year contract with the Rockies, worth $260 Million. It was however reported that Arenado was no longer happy with Colorado and was looking to be traded. At the start of the 2021 season, he was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals.
Professional Career Highlights and Awards
- 2015–2019, 2021 - All-Star
- 2013–2020 - Gold Glove Award
- 2015–2018 - Silver Slugger Award
- 2015, 2016, 2018 - NL home run
- 2015, 2016 - NL RBI leader
- 2015 - Colorado Sports Hall of Fame
- 2015 - Fielding Bible Award
- 2015 - Wilson Defensive Player of
- 2017 - Played for the US National