Arenado is hitting .287 in 111 games with a team-leading 34 doubles, 18 home runs, 61 RBIs and 58 runs scored. Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
DENVER — Nolan Arenado returned to Coors Field after having been diagnosed Monday with early onset pneumonia. But the Colorado Rockies third baseman likely will not play again this season, which after Wednesday has nine games remaining.
“I guess there is a chance, but I don’t know how high a chance,” Arenado said before the Rockies beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 7-6. “I know I couldn’t play tonight, and I won’t be able to do anything for a couple of days. I’m tired, my body is tired. My energy is down. If I feel like my chest is 100 percent, I’m going to go, but if it’s not, I don’t think I’m going to try.”
The pneumonia was detected Monday when Arenado underwent an MRI and CT scan on his bruised right chest. A day earlier in St. Louis, Arenado dove for a ball and left the game after aggravating the chest injury he sustained in New York earlier in the road trip.
In his pre-game session with the media, manager Walt Weiss intimated the Arenado is done playing this season.
“It’s not like we have to get another look at Nolan,” Weiss said. “The pneumonia is going to zap him for a while. Even when he feels like he’s ready to go, he’s going to be short-winded out here for a few days. So that probably takes him up to the last few days.”
Arenado, 23, is strong candidate to win his second consecutive Gold Glove, despite missing 37 games because of a broken left middle finger. He is hitting .287 in 111 games with a team-leading 34 doubles, 18 home runs, 61 RBIs and 58 runs scored. Arenado has a .328 on-base percentage and a .500 slugging percentage.
In his rookie season last year, Arenado hit .267 in 133 games with 29 doubles, 10 homers, 52 RBIs and 49 runs scored. He had a .301 on-base percentage and a .405 slugging percentage.
“We have to remember that this is still a very young kid, but I have seen a lot of maturity in Nolan this year,” Weiss said. “I like the way he handles the grind of the season, the way he’s handled tough at-bats, especially this second half of the season. I feel like he has really made a lot of headway with those things.
“Offensively, I think he’s becoming an elite hitter, too. We are looking at a perennial All-Star if he can stay healthy. He’s a marvelously talented kid, sky’s the limit. The thing I’m as excited about as anything is his maturity.”
