Four-time All-Star, career-long Rockies OF/DH set to retire

During his age-30 campaign, Blackmon raked at a .331/.399/.601 clip while leading the majors with 725 plate appearances. He drilled 37 home runs, 35 doubles and an MLB-best 14 triples. Blackmon won the NL batting title while leading the majors with 213 hits and 137 runs scored. That’s incredible production even at Coors Field and deservedly earned him his second straight Silver Slugger award. Blackmon finished fifth in NL MVP balloting and helped the Rox to their first playoff berth in eight years.

Colorado was bounced by the Diamondbacks in the NL wild-card game. It would return to the postseason the following year with Blackmon again playing a central role. He hit .291/.358/.502 with 29 homers and an NL-leading 119 runs. The Rox knocked off the Cubs in the wild-card contest that time around, though they were swept by the Brewers in the division series (in which Blackmon went 1-for-12).

Early in that 2018 season, Blackmon and the Rockies agreed to a $94M extension. The deal paid him $21M annually from 2019-21 and came with player options covering the 2022 and 2023 campaigns. That locked Blackmon up through his 30s and more or less ensured he’d spend his entire career in Denver.

Blackmon had one more excellent season, connecting on 32 homers while hitting .314 to earn another All-Star nod. Yet the team dropped to 71-91 in 2019. The Rockies went 26-34 during the shortened schedule while Nolan Arenado’s relationship with the front office deteriorated. Colorado traded Arenado the following winter and has essentially been mired in a rebuild ever since — even though the front office has been reluctant to acknowledge it as such.

That has coincided with Blackmon’s decline as he’s gotten into his mid-30s. He continued to hit for solid averages until this season and remained one of the tougher players in MLB to strike out. Blackmon hasn’t hit for the same kind of power he did during his 2016-19 peak, though, and he had to move off center field at the end of the 2018 season. Blackmon has spent more time at designated hitter than in right field for the past three years.

Despite the drop in production, Blackmon’s status within the organization hasn’t wavered. The Rockies re-signed him last September on a $13M deal for what’ll be his final season. Blackmon has unlocked another $1.5M in incentives and could secure $500K more if he logs 25 plate appearances over the last week.

The 38-year-old announced his retirement with a career .292/.352/.479 slash to his name. He has played in more than 1,600 games and tallied over 6,800 plate appearances. Blackmon is three hits shy of 1,800 and has 991 runs scored, 797 driven in and 226 home runs. Both Baseball-Reference and FanGraphs credited him with roughly 20 wins above replacement. It’s fair to wonder if that’s artificially driven down somewhat by his home park, though, as Blackmon never graded well by public defensive metrics with so much ground to cover in MLB’s largest outfield.

Blackmon has six more games to add to those totals. Whatever the precise numbers, he’ll walk away as one of the best players in franchise history. He’s second behind Hall of Famer Todd Helton in hits, runs scored and plate appearances with the Rockies. Blackmon is sixth in Colorado history in home runs and would tie longtime teammate Carlos Gonzalez for fifth if he connects on one this week. He’s seventh among position players in franchise history by measure of Baseball-Reference WAR.

The Rockies finish the season with a pair of home series. They’ll host the Cardinals for three games before wrapping things with a weekend set against the Dodgers. That’ll afford the Colorado fanbase an opportunity for a proper farewell. MLBTR congratulates Blackmon on an excellent run and wishes him the best in retirement.