Charles Cobb Blackmon (born July 1, 1986) is an American professional baseball outfielder and designated hitter for the Colorado Rockies of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2011, as a member of the Rockies. Blackmon throws and bats left-handed, stands , and weighs .
A native of Dallas, Texas, Blackmon attended the Georgia Institute of Technology, and played college baseball for the Yellow Jackets. The Rockies selected him in the second round of the 2008 amateur draft. Blackmon is a four-time MLB All-Star, a two-time Silver Slugger Award winner, and the 2017 National League batting champion.
Amateur career
Born in Dallas, Texas, Blackmon is of partial English ancestry. 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. In 2005, he played collegiate summer baseball in the Cape Cod Baseball League for the Cotuit Kettleers.
Blackmon received a scholarship to Georgia Tech, and transferred in the fall of 2006. Blackmon had been recruited by Georgia Tech after his freshman season but returned to Young Harris for his sophomore season as he had promised the team he would play for two seasons. 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.
Professional career
Draft and minor leagues
The Colorado Rockies selected Blackmon 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.
Colorado Rockies
2011–2016
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 one-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 batting average in 27 games.
The following two seasons, Blackmon spent the majority of the time between the Rockies and their AAA minor league team, as they didn't have playing time for him. After the 2013 season, the Rockies traded Dexter Fowler to the Houston Astros, thus creating an opening for Blackmon to win the center field job in 2014.
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 (July 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 batting average, 28 stolen bases, and 19 home runs. In 2015, despite a drop-off in the RBI section, Blackmon stole a career-high 43 bases while continuing to hit for a high average.