Jimmy Rollins‘ Release Makes One Think: Who Could Be Recent Players Worthy of the Hall of Fame That Have Flown Under the Radar?
Jimmy Rollins, SS, 2000-present
Career Stats: .264/.324/.418, 2,455 hits, 1,421 runs, 231 HR, 470 SB
Rollins was recently designated for assignment by the Chicago White Sox in lieu of their top prospect Tim Anderson, and after he struggled to find a job this offseason before taking a minor league contract with the White Sox, it could spell the end of Rollins’ career.
With an NL MVP in his past and the stats above, Rollins could make a decent argument for the Hall of Fame, and while the current loaded ballot would give him problems, he’d be a good discussion point. That led me to thinking about a number of recent players who have been very good on a historical level, but perhaps weren’t appreciated enough in their own time.
While we’ll explore those other players moving forward, Rollins is the focus on this slide, and his career is one where there are some interesting comparisons. For instance, on his Baseball Reference page, Rollins’ top three similarity scores for his career are Barry Larkin, a Hall of Famer, Alan Trammell, and Lou Whitaker, the latter two both being guys who many feel were snubbed and should be in the Hall.
Then you look at some of the analytical statistics that are out there. The most cited of them, “JAWS”, scores Rollins at 39.2 with an average HOF SS being at 54.8. Via “Black Ink”, Rollins has a 14 score, which is short of the 27 of the average HOFer. Via “Gray Ink”, Rollins has 82 with the average HOFer having 144. On Hall of Fame Standards, Rollins scores 42 with an average HOFer scoring 50. Now on the Hall of Fame Monitor, Rollins scores a 121 while a likely HOFer scores 100.
I do think Rollins likely ends up short of the Hall of Fame, but he has some intriguing argument for a spot on the wall of display in Cooperstown for sure!