By William Robinson
Scott Rolen was a third basemen for the Philadelphia Phillies, St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds and Toronto Blue Jays. He played from 1996 to 2012 and during that time he was a 7-time All-Star, 8-time Gold Glove winner and won one Silver Slugger in 2002. He collected 2,077 hits in his career and was worth a WAR of 70.2. His OPS+ was 122 and his career batting average was .281. He had 316 career home runs along with 517 doubles and 1,287 RBI’s.
Scott Rolen is not a slam dunk first ballot type Hall of Fame guy. He doesn’t quite hit all of the markers that are now commonplace. However, a decent argument could be made that he deserves consideration for a place in Cooperstown. During this article I’m going to go through each argument and try to make a case for Rolen that it’s time to let him into the Hall. These arguments include:
- Scott Rolen was one of the best 3rd basemen during the 90’s and early 2000’s and deserves to get in.
- Scott Rolen was a superstar who played excellent defense and should get in on his defense alone.
- If Harold Baines is in the Hall of Fame then Scott Rolen was better than him.
First off where does Scott Rolen rank among third basemen during his career. I’m going to say this off the top of my head. He is nowhere near as good as Chipper Jones and Adrian Beltre. But… was he better than David Wright? David Wright is what many writers may consider a Hall of Fame periphery player who may get in due to the New York bump. However, it is my theory that Scott Rolen was better than him. David Wright from 2006 to 2010 was a very very good baseball player. He was an All-Star during each of those seasons and he had two more seasons where you could consider him a superstar. However, during his 14-season career he only amassed 50.2 WAR and 1,777 hits. In 2007 David Wright had a WAR of 8.3 which may lead some to think that he was better than Scott at his peak but that would be incorrect as Scott Rolen’s peak season in 2004 gave him a WAR of 9.1. So, both at his peak and during his entire career Scott Rolen was better than David Wright. During Scott Rolen’s career one could argue that he was the third best third baseman in the game of baseball.
Argument number two is very compelling. In the history of MLB there are only two third basemen who have 8 Gold Gloves and hit 300 home runs. Mike Schmidt and Scott Rolen and we know that Michael Jack is definitely in the Hall. Also, something to be aware of is that Scott Rolen is the player who has the third most Gold gloves at third base. Above him is two Hall of Famers in Mike Schmidt and Brooks Robinson (who had 16). In fact, if you look at baseball there are only a few players who have won 8 Gold Glove awards and aren’t in Cooperstown. Mark Belanger won eight at shortstop but was abysmal at the plate with an OPS+ of 68. Frank White at second base had eight but he was also abysmal at the plate with an OPS+ of 85. George Scott at first base had 8 but his numbers otherwise are not as good as Rolen’s at a power premium position. So, looking at Scott Rolen and his career numbers and how offensively prolific he was and skilled defensively a compelling argument can be made.
Finally, the last argument is one that will not go away anytime soon. Last year Harold Baines was voted into the Hall of Fame by the Veteran’s Committee. Harold Baines was nowhere near as good as Scott Rolen. In 22 seasons his career WAR was only 38.7 (nearly half of Rolen’s), His OPS+ (his best number) was 121 which is less than Scott Rolen’s 122 and he was an All-Star less time as well. There is no world in which Harold Baines deserves to be in the Hall of Fame more than Scott Rolen.
So, there you go: That’s my case for Scott Rolen getting into the Hall of Fame. Does he deserve to get in? Sadly, I don’t have a vote but if I did, I think I would put him in. But I ultimately think that he goes the way of Gil Hodges and Al Oliver and doesn’t get enough votes. What do you think?