Charlie Blackmon, on Rockies’ “Mount Rushmore,” can pad legacy

The beard, the mullet, the eyeblack, the I don’t wanna lose your love, toniiiiight. 

The six-for-six hit show in 2014. The batting crown in ’17. The historic 15-hit series in ’19. Flirting with .400 in ’20. A left-handed linchpin of the Rockies’ only back-to-back playoff teams in the time in-between.

As he’s built himself into a Colorado icon, Charlie Blackmon’s posted plenty of signature moments along the way. And now, he’s got another summer to pad his legacy as one of the all-time Rockies.

On Friday, Blackmon signed a one-year, $13 million extension with $2 million in incentives, keeping the 37-year-old in purple pinstripes through 2024. The deal sets up what might be Chuck Nazty’s final chapter — or maybe not, considering Blackmon’s tendency to defy baseball odds.

“Once he broke Juan Pierre’s short-season record for hits a few months after being drafted, it was pretty obvious he was going to eclipse any expectations that the Rockies could’ve had for him,” explained Alan Matthews, the area scout who signed Charlie and now works for the Dodgers. “From that moment, he was on a path where he was bound and determined to etch his name into Rockies lore.

“So it’s no surprise to me or most that he was extended, and unfortunately given my current employer, it’s one of those things where I was hoping that maybe he would ride off into the sunset. Because I have a feeling he’s going to continue to be a very productive player and be a thorn in the side of the Dodgers and others for at least one more season, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he goes more than that…

“There’s really no timeline for how a pure hitter’s clock is going to wind down in a major league career, and that’s what Charlie is, he’s a pure hitter.”

What Blackmon can bring to the table in 2024 will be gravy on his legacy, as he’s one of the club’s all-time players by both statistical and emotional standards. Manager Bud Black believes Blackmon has already done enough to “be remembered amongst the legends of Colorado sports” in his 13 seasons with the franchise, and third baseman Ryan McMahon agreed.

“He’s already on the Mount Rushmore of Rockies along with Larry (Walker) and Todd (Helton),” third baseman Ryan McMahon said. “That’s a distinction he’s earned, and one he deserves.”

Entering this weekend, Blackmon’s batting .283 with a .370 on-base percentage in 93 games this season — one that’s seen him miss 53 games with a right hand fracture after getting hit by a pitch June 3. As he got healthy down the stretch and proved there’s still hits in his bat and that his legs can still take playing part-time in the outfield, Blackmon said his desire all along was to return Colorado.

Blackmon and the club had been in informal negotiations on a new deal throughout the second half of the season. Those talks heated up and came to a head in the final week. Blackmon’s contract was announced to a sellout crowd on Friday at Coors Field, for which the outfielder received the sort of rousing ovation that’s been in short supply recently in LoDo for the last-place Rockies.

“I really couldn’t picture it any other way or in any other place,” Blackmon said. “It was hard to picture (myself somewhere else like hometown Atlanta)…. While I did consider it, I didn’t give it too much thought.

“I would like to see a really good Rockies baseball team and (be a part of that). The playoffs certainly would mean a lot more if it was here with the Rockies than somewhere else.”

Blackmon’s veteran leadership, no doubt, added to the Rockies’ decision to re-sign him, especially considering the club’s current youth movement, a trend that will carry into next season as Colorado attempts to re-discover its identity.

McMahon pointed out that Blackmon “speeds up the learning curve for all these young players, just like he did it for me.”

“Not all veteran guys or older guys are ideal to help lead young players through a season,” McMahon said. “I think he is.”

Rookie center fielder Brenton Doyle, who has turned in a Gold Glove-caliber season at the position Blackmon manned in his prime, said the veteran made it a point to coach him up in spring training. In these ways, the Rockies “are definitely still Charlie’s team,” as Kris Bryant put it.

“In my first big-league camp where he didn’t owe me anything, he brought me to the side a lot during outfield drills to talk about the outfield here at Coors, and what to expect, what’s the best way to play it, how the ball travels and how to play the gaps,” Doyle said. “That went a long way for me and it helped me as soon as I got here. And I know I’m not the only one he’s having those side conversations with.”

Blackmon signed a six-year, $108 million deal with Colorado after his historic 2017 season, when he won the NL batting title with a .331 average while setting MLB leadoff records with 104 RBIs and 387 total bases.

Rockies owner Dick Monfort believes the Rockies got “good value” out of the deal despite it being longer than the club initially desired. Blackmon was Colorado’s second-highest paid player this year behind Bryant, with a salary of $15.33 million.

“It was like any other contract, there were years when the value was greater, but it would’ve been hard to replace that value (on the open market),” Monfort said. “It was a year longer than what we wanted but the way I looked at it is, you give the guy the benefit of the doubt because of the way he prepares and takes good care of himself.”

Blackmon’s work ethic helped get him drafted and has long been a staple of his game in the majors. He’s routinely one of the first players at the ballpark to get in his studying, stretching and hitting for the upcoming game. Postgame, he’s usually found in the weight room, eyeblack still smeared on as he drips with sweat.

Matthews described the washed-out college southpaw turned four-time MLB all-star as “a self-made player at every level.”

“There’s not a combination of more intelligent and intense baseball personality that I’ve scouted in 17 years of doing this,” Matthews said. “He matches every level of baseball IQ and intensity necessary to prepare for every day, game, pitch, unlike very many players, ever.”

Blackmon is second only to Helton in Rockies history in games played (1,497), hits (1,688) and runs scored (936), and is tied for fifth in RBIs (749), is sixth in homers (215) and seventh in WAR (20.8).

But all that production could’ve come somewhere else had it not been for a couple shakes of fate.

The first was that Matthews’ greenness to scouting worked in the Rockies’ favor. Then a 30-year-old first-year area scout who was previously a writer for Baseball America, Matthews didn’t see Blackmon as a failed pitcher trying to prove himself at the plate, as was the case with many other scouts. The outfielder was drafted twice before as a pitcher, by the Marlins in the 28th round out of North Gwinnett High in 2004 and the Red Sox in the 20th round out of Young Harris College in ’05.

Matthews’ fresh perspective had the Rockies higher on Blackmon than most, even after he racked up 99 hits in a breakout redshirt junior season at Georgia Tech in 2008.

“I was shocked that he didn’t get the attention prior to the draft that he should’ve gotten,” said Rockies assistant GM of scouting Danny Montgomery, who cross-checked Blackmon. “For us to see him in the area of the second round was going to take a whole lot, because we believed the upside and the tool set was really high. But Charlie was an unsung guy in that moment, and not really a name guy. We wanted to keep it that way and keep our serious interest in him (hush-hush).”

The second twist was that on the day of the draft, after selecting southpaw Christian Friedrich in the first round, the Rockies planned to spend their No. 72 overall pick in the second round on South Carolina third baseman James Darnell.

But the Padres took Darnell three picks ahead of Colorado, and Blackmon was the next college position player on the Rockies’ board. Colorado picked him even though it was two or three rounds higher than many pundits, and Matthews himself, thought Blackmon would be drafted.

Darnell went on to play 25 games in the majors. Meanwhile, Blackmon signed for $563,000 and proceeded to rake his way through the minors before debuting in 2011. He overcame early injuries and earned his first All-Star nod in 2014.

“I thought Charlie was going to be a good major league player, but obviously he went way above and beyond that,” said Walt Weiss, the Braves bench coach and Colorado’s manager from 2013-16. “There’s a window there when Charlie was one of the best players in the game, especially as a leadoff hitter and in his all-around game.”

That window has closed, and Blackmon’s power fizzled since he blasted his fourth straight season of 29-plus homers in 2019. But Rockies general manager Bill Schmidt believes Blackmon “can still be a very productive player” in 2024, as evidenced by his .821 OPS this year.

“Charlie’s probably not going to be the 30-home run guy he was in the past,” Schmidt said. “But he can still hit the ball over the fence and still has (extra-base) power.”

Now the big question that remains is one Blackmon will have a chance to further address in 2024. Has Blackmon done enough to see his No. 19 retired alongside Nos. 17 and 33 in the Coors Field outfield later down the line?

“We’re pretty stingy on that,” Monfort remarked, “but he wouldn’t be a bad one to have up there.”

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• 2023
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