Rockies making noise in National League West

After just 32 games of the season, Major League Baseball fans are asking if the Colorado Rockies are for real and if Nolan Arenado is a rookie of the year candidate in the National League.

The Rockies currently are in third the NL West by just a half game trailing the San Francisco Giants and Arizona Diamondbacks, with a record of 19-15.

Arenado has only been in the majors for 11 days and already has started to get people’s attention.

On Saturday night, just a week into his major league career he hit two long drives to the warning track for outs early in the game off David Price the Tampa Bay Rays ace and reigning Cy Young holder in the American League.

However, the 22-year old was waiting until the game was on the line. In the bottom of the seventh with two outs and the bases full, Arenado hit a Price pitch to the deepest part of the outfield and over the wall for a grand slam.

Arenado was called up by Colorado after only one month in Triple-A. The young third baseman steps to the plate with a look of confidence, not with the look of awe in his eyes as he stares at the mound. You do not get a sense he is overwhelmed with the idea he is batting against pitchers like Price or Josh Beckett.

He steps into the batter’s box with confidence and acts as if he belongs and each day he is in the majors, he is convincing more and more people that he really does belong.

After a good start, the Rockies pitching staff started to show its true self – mediocrity. Fans started to wonder if Colorado’s batting order was strong enough to offset the team’s pitching woes.

Now with Arenado in the lineup, it looks as though he can give the team even more power in an already power-laden lineup. With Dexter Fowler, Carlos Gonzalez and Wilin Rosario’s power and the additional of Arenado, the Colorado batting order will put the fear into any pitcher facing them and it will not matter if they are playing at home at Coors Field or on the road.

The Rockies believe they can play and contend in the NL West and manager Walt Weiss has them playing with confidence and never giving up on a game. The wins might not come the entire season at the rate they are early on, but one thing is certain, the Rockies will fight for every game until the last out.