Nolan Arenado reflects on return to St. Louis, ASU baseball commitment in high school

Arizona Diamondbacks third baseman Nolan Arenado might have expected a warm welcome at Busch Stadium in his first trip back there since departing for Phoenix. He didn’t expect three standing ovations though.

The former St. Louis Cardinal (2021-25) received that type of fan reception before his first at-bat of each game in what turned out to be only three games due to Thursday’s finale getting postponed to July 23. The poor weather to finish didn’t dampen Arenado’s gratitude.

“St. Louis, it’s an amazing place. I really love playing here,” the 10-time Gold Glover told Arizona Sports’ Bickley & Marotta on Thursday. “My family loved it and it was a great chapter in my life.

“Then obviously going through that standing ovation and all that was special. To do it three times, I didn’t expect that. So it was really cool. It was amazing. The fans are first class here.”

Arenado made good use of the first show of crowd endearment on Monday, smacking a ball to left-center field off starter Andre Pallante. He then played a big role in Tuesday’s 4-3 win with an RBI double in the ninth to break a scoreless tie.

In three of the game in the to-be-completed four-game series, Arenado has three hits (two doubles), two RBIs and two runs scored. Entering Sunday, the six-time Platinum Glover is riding a six-game hitting streak, for his longest this season.

Before he got moved to the Diamondbacks last offseason, Arenado had already spent his fair share of time in Arizona with eight spring trainings at Salt River Fields while a member of the Colorado Rockies (2013-2020). But that annual pilgrimage might have not been his first taste of the desert.

Arenado confirmed on Bickley & Marotta that he had committed to play college baseball at Arizona State, and Pat Murphy, the current Milwaukee Brewers manager, was still the head coach (1995-2009).

“(ASU assistant coach) Josh Holliday was the one that recruited me. (Former D-back) Andy Stankiewicz was there. It was a really good coaching staff,” said Arenado, who attended El Toro High School in Lake Forest, California.

The third baseman instead bypassed college with his eyes set on pro ball, and Arenado was a second-round pick to Colorado in the 2009 MLB Draft.

“Arizona’s almost like a second home in a sense because of all the spring training I had with the Rockies and Fall League, I’ve just been in Scottsdale for so long,” Arenado said. “There’s just a lot of familiarity and that’s been really nice. It’s made the transition like super easy.”

In 77 games with the D-backs, Arenado is slashing .240/.315/.389 with eight home runs and 33 RBIs.

He was fourth for his position in Phase 1 of National League MLB All-Star voting, as the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Max Muncy and Philadelphia Phillies’ Alec Bohm were the players to reach Phase 2 of determining this year’s starters.

Arenado joked that everything about baseball is harder now at age 35, but the eight-time All-Star is still hoping to “turn the tide” with Arizona (41-41) in the second half of the season.

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