Over the past few years, the Philadelphia Phillies front office, mainly the general manager Ruben Amaro, Jr., has received an enormous amount of scrutiny from fans. The Phillies franchise had great success during the prime of their homegrown core and under the leadership of manager Charlie Manuel. But have those glory years passed? Is Ruben Amaro, Jr. holding on to memories and letting certain members of the homegrown core finish their careers to gain franchise records?
So when Amaro re-signed shortstop Jimmy Rollins to a three-year, $33 million deal on December 19, 2011 with defensive whiz Freddy Galvis waiting in the wings, the fans questioned the move. However, Galvis proved to be oft-injured and never quite took off offensively (Sports Injury Alert profile). Meanwhile, Rollins continued to dazzle defensively and through the ups and downs of offense, the fans stuck by. J-Roll, as the Philly Phaithful adorned him, earned his ten and five rights before the 2011 deal, meaning he could veto a proposed trade to any team.
In March of 2014, when the Detroit Tigers learned that their shortstop, Jose Iglesias, would be out the majority of the year due to injury, rumors started swirling about whether or not they would contact the Phillies about the availability of Rollins (Sports Injury Alert profile). But Rollins quickly addressed the media by saying, “There’s only 30 guys that are their team’s leader in hits, it’s a pretty high honor.”
Mike Schmidt currently holds the Phillies franchise hits record, but entering play Thursday night Rollins is only 18 hits away from breaking that record. Schmidt hopes to be in the broadcast booth the day Rollins breaks his record. So Jimmy, make sure your 2,235th hit comes on a Sunday at home!
Though Rollins is currently chasing notable hitters for several batting categories in franchise record books, he is the franchise leader in doubles with 463. The next active Phillie comes in seventh in the form of Rollins’ double play partner, Chase Utley with 316 two-baggers. Rollins’ name shows up second in the books, for now, in categories such as at-bats, extra-base hits, games played, total plate appearances (83 from breaking the record), and stolen bases (78 from breaking the record). He is tied with Richie Ashburn for second in hits with 2,217. He is also third in runs and triples. Rollins will break the record for total plate appearances in the coming weeks, barring injury, and could break the stolen bases record before his career is over if he plays another two-three years as expected.
The homegrown shortstop is his own man and he has no trouble speaking his mind. As far as the team, it has been said for the last decade that, “As J-Roll goes, so the Phils go.” He has been the catalyst of the team since his Major League arrival in 2000. Rollins is a three-time All-Star, four-time Gold Glove award winner, Silver Slugger award winner, 2007 National League Most Valuable Player, and he has played on a Phillies team that won five consecutive division titles, including the 2008 World Series Championship and the 2009 National League pennant. He came in third in Rookie of the Year voting in 2001.
But what do records and awards mean for a player when it’s all said and done? Rollins is just a .269/.328/.426/.754 hitter over an inconsistent 15-year career. One thing that has remained consistent over those 15 years is his defense. Rollins has only committed 139 errors in his career, which yields him a .983 fielding percentage.
Hall-of-Famer Barry Larkin was a 12-time All-Star, three-time Gold Glove award winner, nine-time Silver Slugger award winner, 1995 National League Most Valuable Player, and a lifetime .295/.371/.444/.815 hitter over a 19 year career. He was part of the 1990 World Series Champion Cincinnati Reds. But Larkin is inferior to Rollins defensively. Not by much, but Larkin made 235 errors over his 19 seasons at shortstop, holding him to a .975 fielding percentage. Still a great accomplishment, but J-Roll seems to be a slightly better defender, no?
Another Hall-of-Famer, Pee Wee Reese, was a 10-time All-Star with a .269/.366/.377/.743 career slash line. Reese never was named an MVP, and Gold Glove or Silver Slugger awards were not handed out during his career. He made more errors, 388 at shortstop, 19 at third base, than both Larkin and Rollins, but held a .962 fielding percentage over his 16-year career. Reese was a member of seven World Series teams, winning one championship in 1955 with the Brooklyn Dodgers.
So by comparing just these statistics means Jimmy Rollins should be inducted in the Hall-of-Fame? Of course not. The Hall has specific guidelines voters must look at when casting their ballot. Not just any player should be enshrined in Cooperstown. It is for the elite of the elite. Does Derek Jeter belong in Cooperstown? Do we need to ask? But Jimmy Rollins compares to Jeter defensively as “The Captain” has made 246 errors so far over his 20 seasons, yielding a .976 fielding percentage.
But defense alone is not going to get a player into the Hall-of-Fame. The Hall-of-Fame Monitor is a basic point system developed by Bill James, to test how likely an active player is to be voted in the Hall. Though this test is not guaranteed to be accurate, it is good for the look. It is based on a number of batting and personal achievements as well as team success. It looks at position difficulty and league achievements. If a player reaches at least 100 points, they are likely to be voted into the Hall. If that player earns at least 130 points, they might as well book their ticket to Cooperstown. Currently, Rollins has a score of 104 on the Hall-of-Fame Monitor.
Rollins will certainly not be a first ballot Hall-of-Famer, but should he get in, it will be deserved. He has led the National League in triples (four times), at bats (four times), fielding percentage (three times), plate appearances (three times), defensive games at shortstop (two times), total zone runs as shortstop (two times), stolen base percentage, stolen bases, runs scored, and games played in single seasons. But is all this worthy of enshrinement with baseball’s absolute best stars? He is making a case for it this year, off to a strong start that could be the making of a career year.
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