Is Scott Rolen a Hall of Famer?

Source: redlegnation.com --- Thursday, January 11, 2018
With a painfully slow and dull free agency, much of the offseason focus in Baseball has centered around the Hall of Fame and which players are worthy of election. While candidates like Chipper Jones, Jim Thome, and Vladimir Guerrero are locks to achieve Baseball immortality, there are a number of intriguing players who don’t stand much of a chance. One of the latter players is former Cincinnati Reds third baseman Scott Rolen. Rolen spent only three-and-a-half of his 17 seasons in Cincinnati, but he’s the Reds’ best hope at having a Hall of Fame player until Joey Votto retires. So let’s talk about him! More specifically, is he worthy of election? The first thought that pops into your head when you think of Scott Rolen may not be “hall of famer,” “superstar,” or “elite.” It’d be easy (though lazy) to dismiss him as a Cooperstown candidate based on that alone. And if you only look at the traditional counting stats, like many voters still do, you may be inclined to dismiss his candidacy altogether. Rolen hit 316 home runs (124th all-time), knocked in 1,287 (120th), and batted .281 (617th) while spending time with the Phillies, Cardinals, Blue Jays, and Reds. All impressive, above-average marks, but not elite when compared to other superstars of his era like Albert Pujols and Alex Rodriguez. Fair enough — but those numbers don’t come close to telling the whole story. Some, like Steven Martano at Beyond the Box Score , say Rolen is no ...

from Baseball http://ift.tt/2D4rMYM