Wednesday 4x4: Arenado Looking to Produce, Not just Hit

The stats may look nice, but for Nolan Arenado as good as they may appear they don't add up to the type of season he wants to put together.

"Statistically people say it's my best year," he told Thomas Harding of mlb.com. "Mentally I don't feel that way because i'm used to driving in runs and hitting the ball out of the ballpark. That's what I want to do."

That, said Arenado, was why he snapped after striking out on Monday -- disappointment in himself, nothing personal toward Dodgers starting pitcher Walker Buehler.

"It was nothing against him," said Arenado. "It was just that. ... Let's say I had a mental approach breakdown."

Here's the deal. Arenado's average is actually up seven points since May 5, but he has not hit a home run and has only five RBI in 58 at-bats after hitting eight home runs and driving in 21 runs in his first 106 at-bats.

Arenado's Power Outage

Nolan Arenado			AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	AVG	OBP	SLG
Thru May 5			106	18	34	6	1	8	21	0.321	0.407	0.623
Since May 5			58	7	19	3	1	0	5	0.328	0.418	0.414
Season Total			164	25	53	9	2	8	26	0.323	0.411	0.549

Carlos Gonzalez, meanwhile, is working on getting back into the lineup on a regular basis. Since coming off the disabled list, Gonzalez has started in only 10 of 20 games, in part the victim of the fact the Rockies have four left-handed hitters among their five outfielders on the roster. In addition to Gonzalez, there is Charlie Blackmon, David Dahl and Gerardo Parra.

Manager Bud Black is waiting for Gonzalez to take charge.

"I still believe our best team has Carlos Gonzalez in the strting lineup the majority of the time," said Black.

Leaning to the Left

Player	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
Gerardo Parra	44	141	18	40	7	0	3	11	9	21	0.284	0.327	0.397	0.724
Charlie Blackmon	44	168	37	44	4	1	12	23	25	40	0.262	0.364	0.512	0.876
David Dahl	25	71	5	18	2	2	2	7	4	24	0.254	0.303	0.423	0.725
Carlos Gonzalez	33	110	9	24	3	1	4	16	7	31	0.218	0.261	0.373	0.633

Meanwhile, Scott Oberg is making a strong case to rejoin the Rockies big-league roster. He has been dominating hitters at Triple-A Albuquerque. The Rockies also have reason to believe that Antonio Senzatela will be ready soon to step in if a need arises in the rotation, although he has been sideliend for a week by a slight groin strain. And Jeff Hoffman has picked up the pace in his last three starts, allowing four earned runs in 16 1/3 innings.

Help on the Way

Player	W	L	ERA	G	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	WHIP
Scott Oberg	0	0	0.73	11	2	12.1	9	1	1	0	2	9	0.89
Antonio Senzatela	2	0	2.57	3	0	14	11	4	4	1	4	18	1.07
Jeff Hoffman	2	3	4.42	8	0	38.2	36	20	19	4	19	49	1.42

And on the subject of players at Triple-A Albuquerque, there are five position players currently on the Isotopes roster who have spent time with the Rockies. The most intriguing is catcher Tom Murphy, who shares the Isotopes lead in home runs with Jordan Patterson, and is hitting .295. The challenge for Mike Tauchman and Raimel Tapia is they are both left-handed-hitting outfielders.

Swinging for a Return to the Bigs

Player	POS	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	AVG
Mike Tauchman	LF	28	110	29	43	8	3	8	28	11	11	6	4	0.391
Stephen Cardullo	RF	21	45	8	15	3	1	1	9	4	7	1	0	0.333
Raimel Tapia	CF	42	180	36	55	13	4	6	30	14	40	7	1	0.306
Tom Murphy	C	36	139	27	41	12	2	11	31	12	43	1	0	0.295
Jordan Patterson	1B	42	146	30	37	6	0	11	30	20	46	3	2	0.253
Ryan McMahon	1B	19	76	12	18	3	0	3	12	8	26	0	1	0.237