DENVER -- The tangible heirlooms that Nolan Arenado left behind at El Toro High School in Lake Forest, California, include a state championship, some gaudy statistics and some great pictures, including a shot of him standing at first base, the initial position he played for baseball coach Mike Gonzales. But the most useful things are the Arenado stories told to the freshmen and sophomores, stories that the juniors and seniors have heard many, many times.
Like that time when El Toro was playing for a league championship in Arenado's senior year. The Chargers were down by a run in the seventh inning, and Arenado came to the plate with runners at first and second and nobody out, infield playing deep and respecting Arenado's power.
But Arenado squared and dropped a perfect bunt for a hit, and later, after one of Arenado's teammates ended the game with a hit, Gonzales found himself deflecting compliments for his gutsy strategy of asking his best hitter to move the runners along. Gonzales hadn't called for the bunt, and hadn't expected it; this was Arenado seeing where the third baseman was positioned and reacting.