The Hall of Fame case for Philadelphia Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins

The Baseball Hall of Fame announced on Tuesday that the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) have inducted one player via their ballot for the Hall in 2023: Former Philadelphia Phillies third baseman Scott Rolen. Rolen was inducted with 76.3 percent of the vote on his sixth ballot.

A few other players were on the precipice of being inducted and many more will stay on the ballot for another time. One of those in the latter category is Rolen’s former teammate: shortstop Jimmy Rollins.

Rollins saw a slight uptick in voters for him, as he received 12.9 percent of the vote on his second ballot.

The Hall of Fame case for former Philadelphia Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins

In his 17-year career, Rollins played in 2,275 games and he hit .264/.324/.418 with 231 home runs, 936 RBI, 511 doubles, and 2,455 hits. He was a three-time All-Star (2001-02, 2005), won four Gold Glove Awards (2007-09, 2012), won the NL MVP award in 2007, received MVP votes in four more seasons, and he was on the World Series-winning Phillies in 2008.

Rollins has some high-profile voters, including Jon Heyman of MLB Network and The New York Post. Just before Tuesday’s Hall of Fame announcement, Heyman said on Audacy’s “Big Time Baseball” podcast that he doesn’t understand why Rollins hasn’t received more traction.

“I think he’s being unfairly overlooked. I don’t get it,” Heyman said. “It’s called the Hall of Fame. It’s about impact. It’s about fame.”

Statistically, that is a bit short of the Hall of Fame level at shortstop. There are 23 shortstops in the Hall of Fame. By WAR, WAR7 (his WAR in his best seven seasons), and JAWS, Rollins is 26th, 43rd, and 32nd, respectively.

In each of the three categories, there are four Hall of Fame shortstops lower than Rollins. But only one of the four played after World War II. That was Yankees shortstop Phil Rizzuto, who was elected via the Veterans Committee in 1994. On the BBWAA ballot, he never received more than 38.4 percent of the vote on any of his 15 years on the BBWAA ballot.

Now, players only receive 10 years on the BBWAA ballot, making it even harder for Rollins to get in.

But Heyman says “[i]t shouldn’t be about all stats.

“He’s got more hits than anybody else in Phillies history so that’s a pretty good stat.”

The two most comparable shortstops to Rollins in the expansion era (1961-present) are Jim Fregosi (who later became the manager of the Phillies) and Tony Fernandez … and even they have a little bit of a leg up on Rollins.

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Generated 1/25/2023.

Fernandez was the best hitter of the trio but, when you consider the eras played in, Fregosi prevails since he played in the worst hitting era of them. Fernandez and Fregosi also played more than just shortstop and, at least at shortstop, Fernandez was the better defender, if you look at the most in-depth defensive metrics available for all three players

• Fernandez: 1573 games at SS, 42 Total Zone Runs (TZ)
• Rollins: 2227 games at SS, 38 TZ
• Fregosi: 1396 games at SS, 24 TZ

The only area where Jimmy Rollins has a significant leg up is in baserunning. He has 470 stolen bases, compared to Fernandez’s 246 and Fregosi’s 76.

In essence, Jimmy Rollins was a great MLB player and should be remembered as such, but a great MLB player does not mean that the player should be a Hall of Famer. And, furthermore, he shouldn’t be a Hall of Famer because he and his team received more media coverage on the East coast (Philadelphia) than Fernandez (largely in Toronto) and Fregosi (largely for the expansion team Angels in the 1960s).