Less Pulled Baseballs. Looking at his balls in play, the percentage that were pulled fell from 46.9% in 2023, to 44.2% in 2024, to 42.1% in 2025. That is significant because in 2025 his monthly (ignoring July because it was the injury month) OBP\/SLG\/wOBA stats shown in Baseball Savant were consistently awesome for pulled balls in play, but below average for straightaway and opposite field balls in play. In September, he showed potential for average results to the opposite field.<\/p>\n
For an obvious reason, it is easier to pull the ball when contact is made farther in front of the plate. Perhaps he pulled a lower percentage of balls because he hit the ball closer to the plate. His average contact point changed from 4.8\u201d\/4.9\u201d in 2023\/2024 to 3.0\u201d in 2025 when league average was 2.9\u201d per Baseball Savant.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think some of the adjustments I\u2019m trying to make, and the adjustments that I\u2019ve talked with the hitting coaches already about are going to pay dividends down the line\u2026.quiet my head, see the ball better, and hopefully create space for me to work out front again. That\u2019s when I\u2019m at my best is when I\u2019m pulling the ball out front.\u201d \u2014 Nolan Arenado<\/a><\/p>\n Busch Field was unlucky. To some extent, in 2025 Nolan Arenado was unlucky with Runners in Scoring Position (RISP). While 30.5% of his PAs were with RISP, only 26.5% of his hits were with RISP, and only 8.3% of his homers were with RISP per Baseball Savant. If his batting had been consistent, even with RISP, his SLG and Runs Batted In (RBIs) would have been higher.<\/p>\n Moving from Busch Field to Chase Field will be a positive change. Park factors show he will hit more doubles (park factor increases from 105 to 115) and triples (park factor increases from 81 to 204). More doubles and triples will improve his SLG and RBIs.<\/p>\n In the context that the last time he won a Gold Glove award and a Platinum Glove Award was 2022 (when he won both), and that as he ages his defense will decline, I am confident that he is an outstanding defender at third base.<\/p>\n In 2025, his 2.4% errors per attempt was a career best. His 98.2 fielding percentage and his 2.84 Range Factor per 9 innings are above league averages.<\/p>\n His strength will be fielding ground balls hit to third base. In 2025, his 85.3% positive results with ground balls compared favorably to the Diamondbacks\u2019 77.7%. (Also, his positive defensive results increased slightly with RISP.)<\/p>\n My view is that his strength will most improve the results of Diamondbacks pitchers who had the highest percent of ground balls towards third base. The following table shows the pitchers who will benefit the most. 2025 Data from Baseball Savant.<\/p>\n
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