DENVER, CO: For Charlie Blackmon, it's a profession. Yesterday evening (on X), the four-time All-Star declared that he will retire at the conclusion of the current campaign.
“As a kid you play the game because you love it, like nothing else matters,” Blackmon stated. “I still play the game that way, but I don’t feel like a kid anymore. My perspective has changed. I have been blessed to call the city of Denver and The Colorado Rockies my baseball home for the entirety of my career. I am grateful for the support of this organization, my teammates, and most of all Rockies fans. It is with a thankful heart and a career’s worth of memories that I choose a new path.”
Blackmon played professionally for 17 years, spending portions of 14 seasons in the major leagues. The Rockies were there throughout the whole run. The Georgia Tech left-handed hitter was selected by Colorado in the second round of the 2008 MLB Draft. Three years later, Blackmon made it to the major leagues, where he emerged as one of the National League's top outfielders in the middle of the decade.
The 38-year-old made his professional retirement known, with - .292/.352/.479 slash to his name. He has made over 6800 plate appearances and participated in over 1600 games. Blackmon has 991 runs scored, 797 runs driven in, and 226 home runs. He is just three hits short of 1800. FanGraphs and Baseball Reference both gave him about 20 wins over replacement. With so much room to cover in MLB's widest outfield, Blackmon never graded well by public defensive measures, so it's reasonable to wonder if that's artificially dragged down slightly by his home park.
Blackmon still has six games left to increase those totals. He will go down as one of the greatest players in team history, regardless of the exact stats. In terms of hits, runs scored, and plate appearances with the Rockies, he is ranked second only to Todd Helton, the Hall of Famer. If Blackmon ties Carlos González for fifth this week, he will tie for sixth place in Colorado history in terms of home runs. By Baseball Reference WAR, he ranks seventh among position players in franchise history.
Comments