Biography

BIOGRAPHY

Charlie Blackmon was born on July 1, 1986, in Dallas, Texas. He is a center fielder in the MLB.

Raised in Suwanee, Georgia, Blackmon was an outstanding baseball player at North Gwinnett High School, as a left-handed pitcher and outfielder. Aside from baseball, Blackmon also competed in basketball and football and was named Academic Player of the Year three times.

Blackmon enrolled at Young Harris College and played college baseball for the school as a pitcher for two years. At Young Harris, Blackmon won 15 games and had 138 strikeouts in 127 innings for the school, and was drafted for the first time after his freshman season. Blackmon continued to pitch until his fourth and final year at Georgia Tech, after redshirting due to elbow tendinitis. As a fourth-year junior outfielder for Georgia Tech, Blackmon hit .396, hit eight home runs, and stole 25 bases as the leadoff hitter for the team. Blackmon also excelled academically, receiving various honors including being named to the 2008 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America Second Team. He graduated from Georgia Tech in 2011 with a bachelor's degree in finance.

Blackmon was drafted by the Colorado Rockies in the second round of the 2008 Major League Baseball draft. Blackmon had first been drafted in the 28th round in the 2004 draft by the Florida Marlins as a pitcher and was also drafted in the 2005 draft in the 20th round by the Boston Red Sox. He spent 2008 with the Tri-City Dust Devils, hitting .338 in 68 games. In 2009, he was promoted to the Modesto Nuts and hit .307 with 30 stolen bases in 133 games there. In 2010, he played for the Tulsa Drillers and spent the first half of 2011 with the Colorado Springs Sky Sox.

The Colorado Rockies called Blackmon up to the majors for the first time on June 6, 2011. Blackmon recorded his first MLB hit on June 8 at Petco Park against Dustin Moseley of the San Diego Padres with a one-out single to right field. He recorded his first MLB RBI on June 11 against Matt Guerrier of the Los Angeles Dodgers, driving in Seth Smith with a 1-out single. Blackmon hit his first MLB home run on July 1, 2011, his 25th birthday, in a pinch-hit at-bat against Joakim Soria. He finished with a .255 AVG in 27 games.

Entering the 2014 season, Blackmon was engaged in a competition for playing time in center field with Brandon Barnes, Corey Dickerson, and Drew Stubbs. In the Rockies' home opener on April 14, 2014, Blackmon notched six hits from the leadoff spot in a 12–2 win over Arizona Diamondbacks. He homered, doubled three times, and tallied five RBI. He joined Ty Cobb (May 5, 1925), Jimmie Foxx (7/10/1932), Edgardo Alfonzo (August 30, 1999), and Shawn Green (May 23, 2002) as the only players in MLB history to have six hits, five RBI, and four extra-base hits in a single game. Blackmon was named to the roster as a reserve for the National League in the 2014 MLB All-Star Game, the first selection of his career. In his first full season in the majors, Blackmon finished with a .288 AVG, 28 stolen bases, and 19 home runs. In 2015, Blackmon stole a career-high 43 bases while continuing to hit for a high average.

For the week of June 20, 2016, Blackmon was named the NL Player of the week by MLB. After the 2016 regular season, Blackmon was awarded a Silver Slugger Award for the first time in his career. He finished with career highs in batting average, home runs, and RBIs. For May 2017, Blackmon won his first NL Player of the Month Award. He led the NL in hits (42) and triples (five), was second in batting average (.359), fourth in runs scored (24), tied for fifth in RBI (22), and tied for seventh with a 1.037 on-base plus slugging (OPS). He was selected to play in the 2017 MLB All-Star Game, starting in center field and batting leadoff. Blackmon set an MLB record for the most RBIs by a leadoff hitter when he homered versus Hyun-Jin Ryu of the Dodgers on September 29 to reach 102 RBI, surpassing Darin Erstad's record set in 2000.

In 159 games played during 2017, Blackmon led the NL with a .331 batting average for the batting title. He became the first player in history to lead the major leagues in hits (213), runs scored (137), triples (14), and total bases (383) in the same season. He also hit 35 doubles, .399 OBP, .601 SLG, 1.000 OPS and stole 14 bases. The Rockies finished the year with an 87–75 record, clinching an NL Wild Card spot. Blackmon was fifth in 2017 NL MVP voting.

Batting .276 with 17 home runs and 40 RBIs, he was named to the 2018 MLB All-Star Game. On September 30, he hit for the cycle against the Washington Nationals. In 2018 he batted .291/.358/.502. In 2020, Blackmon began the season hitting almost .400 at one point but regressed towards the tail end of the season, finishing with a .303 batting average in 59 games. He also hit 6 home runs and led the team in RBI with 42.

In 2019, he batted .314/.364/.576 with 32 home runs and 112 runs scored. He was named to his fourth All-Star Game. In 2020, Blackmon began the season hitting almost .400 at one point but regressed towards the tail end of the season, finishing with a .303 batting average in 59 games. He also hit six home runs and led the team in RBI with 42.

In 2021, Blackmon batted .270/.351/.411 with 13 home runs and 78 RBIs. He led all National League outfielders with 14 assists.

As of 2023, Blackmon is the current active leader in career triples with 58.