Colorado Rockies player profile: Todd Helton

Helton tips his cap to Rockies fans (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

Do Rockies fans know Todd Helton? I think they do. All of the player profiles I have created have been year by year recounts of their progress into the majors and how they have faired once they arrived. For Helton’s player profile I will touch on seasons in which he accomplished amazing feats and broke records - this could be a long one.

First off I do want to touch on how Helton got to where he is today. Todd Lynn Helton was born on August 20th, 1973 in Knoxville Tennessee. Helton attended Central High School in Knoxville where he lettered in football and baseball. Not only did he bat .655 with 12 home runs in his senior year he also passed for 2,772 yards as the school’s starting QB. I am sure most all Rockies fans know he attended the University of Tennessee and was the starting QB ahead of a guy named Peyton Manning. Helton was briefly the starting QB for Tennessee and then he was injured. Manning took over and I guess the rest is history.

Helton was drafted by the Rockies in 1995 with the eighth overall pick in the draft. By August 1997 he was in the big leagues. In 1998 Andres Galarraga went to the Atlanta Braves and at that point Helton became the full time first basemen for the Rox and hasn’t let the position go since.

In his first season playing full time he played in 152 games and batted .315 with a .380 on-base percentage. He hit 25 home runs and knocked in 97 all in route to finishing second on the Rookie of the Year race. He finished second to Kerry Wood of the Chicago Cubs who had tied a major league record 20 strikeouts early in the season against the Houston Astros. Helton led all rookies in average, home runs, RBI, mutli-hit games, total bases, slugging percentage and extra base hits. This started a trend that has followed Helton throughout his career – the Coors Field bias.

In 1999 Helton got better. He batted .320 with 35 long balls, 113 runs driven in and a robust .395 on-base percentage.

In 2000 Helton led the major leagues in batting average (.372), RBI (147), doubles (59), total bases (405), extra base hits (103), slugging percentage (.698) and OPS (1.162). He also led the National League in hits (216) and on-base percentage (.463). That’s right, he got on base nearly half of the time! Somehow he ended up FIFTH in the MVP voting because people look at Coors Field and see inflated stats. Jeff Kent won that year and Helton had more runs, hits, home runs, RBI, walks and a better batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage. The only thing Kent did better was steal 12 bases to Helton’s five.  

Helton watches one of his 300+ home runs (AP Photo/Matt York) 

That’s not all of the accolades he accomplished in 2000. Helton's 103 extra base hits tied for the fourth most in major league history and the second most in National League history. His National League-leading numbers in on-base percentage, slugging percentage and batting average gave him the "percentage triple crown." Helton became the second Rockies player (Larry Walker in 1999) to accomplish that feat. Helton became only the fourth player in National League history to lead the NL in both batting average and RBI. He became the first player in National League history and the fifth player in MLB history (Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx and Hank Greenberg are the others) to have at least 200 hits, 40 home runs, 100 RBI, 100 runs, 100 extra base hits and 100 walks in one season.

How does Helton accrue stats only accomplished by the who’s who of major league baseball history and not win the MVP? To be associated with Ruth, Gehrig, Foxx and Greenberg for a seasons worth of stats is insane.

Helton did have some reprieve in 2000 as he did make his first All Star team and won the National League Player of the Month for May and August. He was named the Associated Press, The Sporting News, USA Baseball Alumni and Baseball Digest Player of the Year.

In April of 2001 Helton was also awarded with a nine year $141.5 million contract that started in 2003.

In 2001 Helton almost surpassed his incredible 2000 totals. He hit more home runs in 2001 with 49 and 22 of those were away from Coors Field. He had 146 RBI, batted .336 and had an OPS of 1.116. He fell short of 200 hits and finished ninth in MVP voting in 2001. He was a second time All Star and Silver Slugger and he won his first Gold Glove in 2001.

2002 saw Helton “regress” to 30 home runs but he still batted .329 and his OPS was still an outstanding 1.006. He was invited to the All Star game for the third consecutive year. He also won the Gold Glove and Silver Slugger awards again for first base.

Helton has scored over 1100 runs for the Rockies (AP Photo/David Zalubowski) 

In 2003 Helton had 209 base hits which equaled a .358 batting average and a maniacal .458 on-base percentage. He hit 33 home runs and drove in 117. He also scored 135 runs which was his fifth year in a row scoring 100 or more runs. All of that was only good enough for seventh in the MVP voting. Unfortunately this was one of Barry Bonds incredible seasons (steroid aided or not) when Bonds had an OPS of 1.278 – the third of four straight seasons in which Bonds would post an OPS that was good enough for top eight all time. The only other players with OPS numbers close to Bonds are guys named Ruth and Williams.

During the 2004 season, Helton again finished second in the NL batting race, as he hit .347, while Barry Bonds hit .362. Helton also had 32 homers and 96 RBI on the season. He became the first player in major league history to hit at least .315 with 25 HR and 95 RBI in each of his first seven full seasons in the majors. He became only the third player in major league history to accomplish that feat during any seven-year stretch in a career (Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth are the others). There he goes being mentioned again with the games all time greats. He also set a franchise record by hitting at least 30 home runs in six consecutive seasons. Helton was named to his team-record fifth consecutive All-Star game and won his third Gold Glove during the season.

In 2005 Helton spent a few weeks on the disabled list with a strained calf muscle. He still hit .320 with 20 home runs and a league leading .445 on-base percentage. It was also the first time since 1999 that Helton did not have an OPS over 1.000 as he finished with a .979 OPS.

Since 2005 Helton’s power numbers have dropped. He had 20 home runs in 2005 but hasn’t had more than 17 since. He also hasn’t topped 91 RBIs since 2003 and his slugging percentage hasn’t topped .500 since 2005. He continues to hit over .300 most every year. Only his rookie season in 1997 and his injury plagued year last year did he fail to not hit over .300. His on-base percentage also fell below .400 for the first time in seven seasons in 1998.

Helton currently has 1993 hits, 313 home runs, 1134 RBI and 1157 runs scored. Helton currently ranks 258th in hits, 105th in home runs, 167th in RBI and 194th in runs all time. He has a career .328 batting average, .428 on-base percentage and .572 slugging percentage. That is good for 35th in batting average, 12th in on-base percentage and 14th in slugging all time. Helton is keeping really good company.

Helton is only 34 and if his back holds up he might have another good six years in him. 3000 hits is his best chance of getting into the Hall of Fame. If he plays six more years including this season he will need to average 170 hits a season. If he stays healthy that is well within the realm of possibility. He will not reach 500 home runs because he would have to average 30 home runs a season and I don’t think he has that in him. If he finishes with 3000 hits and continues to keep his career batting average around .320 or better and his career on-base percentage stays above .400 he should be the first Rockies player in Cooperstown.

According to baseballreference.com similar players in batting at the same age as Helton are Frank Thomas, Chuck Klein, Will Clark, Larry Walker, Jeff Bagwell, Joe DiMaggio, Rafael Palmeiro, Chipper Jones, Carlos Delgado and Fred McGriff. That is two guys currently in the Hall of Fame (Klein and DiMaggio), three who will be in the Hall of Fame (Thomas, Bagwell and Jones), one who would be in if it wasn’t for steroids (Palmeiro) and three that are right on the borderline (Walker, Delgado and McGriff). That is some really good company.

Helton still has a few more seasons on his contract with the Rockies. We all hope he finishes his career with the Rockies around the year 2016. We all hope he continues to produce as he has been in his career and is so far in 2009. If so, in 2021 all of Denver can flock to Cooperstown to watch the first Rockies player inducted into the Hall of Fame. 

PS - in an effort to make me like Helton even more,  I found out he wears number 17 because Mark Grace wore it for the Cubs.  Gracie is one of my all time favorite Cubs.  Grace wore 17 because Keith Hernandez sported the same.  Those are three awfully good first basemen.

2009 Update: That is the Helton we know and love around Colorado! 2008 was a tough year for our favorite first basemen. He battled injuries and many thought it might be a sign of the end. In 2009 all Helton did, after back surgery of all things, was play in 151 games, go to the plate 645 times, bat .325, get on-base at a Helton like clip of .416 and put his OPS over .900. It was a tremendous bounce back year from Helton and I am still surprised he didn’t win the Comeback Player of the Year award.

With Giambi signed for 2010 it is already being discussed that Helton will get one day a week off. The same thing was said before last season. If he continues to put up those numbers Giambi will be nothing more than a fixture on the bench and only be used in late innings in pinch-hit scenarios.