In late January, Scott Rolen received a call from Cooperstown that he was selected to the Hall of Fame. Scott Rolen spent 17 seasons in the majors, hitting .281/.364/.490 with 316 home runs and 1287 RBI. In his career, he collected 2077 hits. There are lots of discussions whether Rolen belongs to the Hall of Fame.
Well, Scott Rolen made it into the big leagues in 1996 and his last MLB game was in 2012. I went to check on the great Fangraphs website to review his stats during these 17 years.
Scott Rolen had 2077 hits in his career (1996-2012). During the same period, Derek Jeter collected 3292 hits and Alex Rodriguez had 2857 hits. From 1996 to 2012, Johnny Damon had 2716 hits. Additionally Ichiro Suzuki made his MLB debut in 2001 and from 2001 to 2012, he collected more than 2600 hits. Moreover, Vladimir Guerrero had 2590 hits from 1996 to 2011. From 1996 to 2012, 20+ players each had at least 2000 hits during this period. Scott Rolen had 2077 hits, which ranked twenty-third. Hence, actually, there are several players who collected more hits than Scott Rolen did from 1996 to 2012.
In addition, let’s take a look at home runs. Alex Rodriguez crushed 600+ home runs from 1996 to 2012. Moreover, Jim Thome has 612 home runs in his career. From 1996 to 2012, Thome smashed 557 home runs. Furthermore, Manny Ramirez blasted 500+ home runs from 1996 to 2011. Additionally, Sammy Sosa had 478 home runs from 1996 to 2007.
From 1996 to 2012, 15 players each smashed at least 400 home runs. Scott Rolen crushed 316 home runs and there were 30+ players who blasted more than Rolen did during this period.
Thirdly, Alex Rodriguez collected 1929 RBI from 1996 to 2012. Additionally, Manny Ramirez had 1600+ RBI from 1996 to 2011. Moreover, Hall of Famer Chipper Jones collected 1537 RBI from 1996 to 2012. At the same time, Jim Thome had 1531 RBI. Furthermore, Vladimir Guerrero had 1496 RBI from 1996 to 2011.
From 1996 to 2012, 13 players each collected at least 1300 RBI. Additionally, Garret Anderson had 1295 RBI from 1996 to 2010. Furthermore, Andruw Jones played in the majors from 1996 to 2012 as well. In his career, he slashed .254/.337/.486 with 434 home runs and 1289 RBI. In total, there were 15 players who collected more RBI than Rolen did from 1996 to 2012.
When we look back at the stats from 1996 to 2012, there were several players whose numbers were more impressive than Scott Rolen’s. However, we can’t deny that Rolen had a great career. He was selected to the All-Star game 7 times and he’s an 8-time Gold Glove award winner. Moreover, his career bWAR is 70.1, which ranks 10th all time for third basemen. If we only look at Rolen’s numbers on offense, it might not be very convincing to say he’s a Hall of Famer. Nonetheless, after Rolen was inducted to the Hall of Fame, let’s see whether those players who had similar numbers will become Hall of Famers. But, for some players who collected more hits or blasted more home runs than Rolen did, it might be hard to see them be inducted to the Hall of Fame.
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