Hall of Fame Pole: Scott Rolen

It is Scott Rolen’s fourth time on the ballot. He only got 35.3% of the Writers’ vote last year, which was double what he had the year before.

Scott one of those guys who doesn’t have that one great stat that Writers can look at and say ‘he should be in’, but then he was good at all parts of the game. Bobby Grich is a fair comparison in that way. Grich should be in the Hall, but the Writers have a hard time with guys who do everything well.

Scott played 17 seasons in the MLB, 7 with the Phillies, 6 with the Cardinals, 4 with the Reds, and 2 with the Blue Jays.

He hit .281/.364/.490 with 316 home runs in 2038 games. He was Rookie of the Year in 1997, won 7 Gold Gloves, made 7 All-Star teams, and received MVP votes 4 times. And, for a brief period, he was the GOAT. He had a stretch of 7 straight seasons with 25 or more home runs.

He was a favorite in his short time with the Jays. It helped that he started his Jays career with a 7 game hitting streak.

He came to us in trade for Troy Glaus. And he left us for Edwin Encarnacion, Josh Roenicke, and Zach Stewart.

His bWAR was 70.2 (fWAR 70.1), which puts him 67 all-time among position players.

I was just looking at Brooks Robinson’s career, Rolen looks like a better version of Brooks (with a shorter career), so I’ll vote yes. I didn’t see Robinson play, so I’m not sure how their defense compares. Of course, they played in different eras.

You can see Scott’s stats here. For comparison, Brooks Robinson is here.