Dexter Fowler is the answer to several Rockies trivia questions. He’s the best triples hitter in Rockies history. Fowler’s 53 triples is four more than number two on the list, Neifi Pérez and his 49 triples. Fowler’s also the only player in Rockies history to have four seasons with 10 or more triples, and he holds the Rockies single season record for triples, with 15. He also has a season with 14 triples. Right now, Fowler is the answer to most triples-oriented Rockies trivia questions.
Charlie Blackmon, however, is close to displacing Fowler, at least in one category. Through 110 games played and 112 team games, Blackmon has 13 triples for the season. One more triple would tie Blackmon with Fowler for the second most a Rockies batter has ever posted in a season, two more would tie him with Fowler, and three more triples would make him the answer to the question, “who holds the record for most triples in a season in Rockies history?”
While he’s not there yet, Blackmon has already done enough to trifle his way into Rockies into the competition. Ever since he hit his tenth triple of the season on June 16, Blackmon joined a small list of 10-triple seasons in Rockies history and an even smaller list of players. It was the twelfth such season in Rockies history, and he became the seventh player to post a 10-triple season.
Triples in Rockies history
| Player | Year | Triples |
|---|---|---|
| Player | Year | Triples |
| Dexter Fowler | 2011 | 15 |
| Dexter Fowler | 2010 | 14 |
| Charlie Blackmon | 2017 | 13 |
| Dexter Fowler | 2012 | 11 |
| Juan Uribe | 2001 | 11 |
| Juan Pierre | 2001 | 11 |
| Neifi Pérez | 2000 | 11 |
| Neifi Pérez | 1999 | 11 |
| Tyler Colvin | 2012 | 10 |
| Dexter Fowler | 2009 | 10 |
| Corey Sullivan | 2006 | 10 |
| Neifi Pérez | 1997 | 10 |
Data courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com
Blackmon has only been close to 10 triples once before. He had nine in 2015, the same year he stole 43 bases. Besides that season, though, the next most triples he’s hit in a season is five. It hasn’t really been a thing he does until this year.
If we want to make the club Charlie’s joined even smaller, we can note that he accompanies Juan Uribe, Juan Pierre, Tyler Colvin, and Cory Sullivan as the only Rockies players to have just one season with 10 triples. Fowler and Pérez, of course, are in an even more exclusive group, as they account for seven of the 12 seasons listed here.
There’s still one way in which we can make this list a party of one. Blackmon is the only player in Rockies history to have a season with 10 or more triples while in his 30s. The previous oldest player to do it was Pérez, who was 27 when he hit 11 triples in the 2000 season. So Blackmon is already the answer to a trivia question, but it’s unfortunately one that has to be qualified with age.
But at age 30 and in the midst of his best offensive season, Blackmon has a real shot to stand alone atop the single-season leaderboard in team history. He is already the answer to one trivia question. But that’s not as fun as eliminating the qualifier and standing alone atop a single-season leaderboard.