Photo by Nick Wosika/Icon Sportswire

Those of you who have watched a lot of baseball over time know that Nolan Arenado ranks as one of the best defensive third basemen of all-time. He has 10 Gold Glove Awards and 5 Fielding Bible Awards.

But what is Arenado defensively right now as he heads to Arizona at age 35, coming off the worst offensive season of his career?

Most Defensive Runs Saved – Last 2 Seasons

Player	Defensive Runs Saved
Ke’Bryan Hayes	29
Matt Chapman	22
Ryan McMahon	20
Ernie Clement	20
Maikel Garcia	16
Nolan Arenado	12
Matt Shaw	12

Arenado’s Defensive Runs Saved totals the last three seasons are 0, 6, and 6. He’s not the guy who saved 20 runs in 2022 but he’s also not quite done either. He’s one of five third basemen to have at least 5 Runs Saved in each of the last two seasons. The others are Ke’Bryan Hayes, Matt Chapman, Ryan McMahon, and Ernie Clement. 

What made Arenado great in his prime was how good he was particularly in the 5-6 hole. In the first 10 seasons of his career, Arenado was 134 plays above average on balls hit to his left. He was league-leader caliber basically every year. For reference, Chapman’s best plays above average on balls hit to his left is +11. Hayes’ best is +10. The last two years, Arenado is +1 and +2. His 6 Runs Saved are the product of being a little above average going left, going right, and fielding balls hit straight or nearly straight at him.

Some of those great early-career numbers come from the type of play for which Arenado was most well known, the barehand. We track how fielders make plays, including how often they attempt a barehand. Since the start of Arenado’s career in 2013, he has seven of the top eight seasons in barehand plays successfully made, the seven occurring consecutively from 2013 to 2019. 

In that time, he made 140 barehand plays at third base, an average of 20 per season. No one is close to that. The next-most at the position from 2013 to 2019 is 66 by Todd Frazier. Third basemen got at least one out on 38% of barehand chances in that time. Arenado was successful on 52% of his tries.

Arenado can still make a barehand play. He has 19 the last two seasons, the most at the position in the majors. But his success percentage is 42% (19 successes on 45 tries). Prime Arenado would have racked up at least a few more, if not a lot more.

And though the aging curve has done its thing with Arenado, he’s particularly good for someone his age. Third base is a position in which almost everyone is younger than him. Only 10 players age 34 or older started a game at third base in 2025. Arenado’s 86 trailed only Max Muncy’s 90.

However, the thing to keep in mind for Arizona though is this. What Arenado is able to give them at third base is probably going to look a lot better than what the team has gotten recently. The Diamondbacks haven’t finished a season with a positive Runs Saved at third base since 2019. The last time they’ve had a third baseman record 6 Runs Saved in a season was Jake Lamb in 2015 (13).