SAN DIEGO — Charlie Blackmon sat in silence on an overturned bucket of baseballs in a batting tunnel last week, waiting. The real action unfolded in his thoughts. The Rockies’ center fielder has a hitting philosophy so vivid and expansive, it plays like a high-definition magic lantern behind his eyes.
“I can’t talk to him,” DJ LeMahieu said. “He has a formula for hitting in his head. I can’t understand it.”
So he waits. Measured in pure production over the past two seasons, Blackmon is the best hitting center fielder in baseball not named Mike Trout.