The Hall of Fame announced this third baseman tonight Scott Rolen was chosen by the Baseball Writers Association of America. He is the only player included in this year’s election cycle by the BBWAA. He will be included alongside the first baseman Fred McGriffpreviously elected by the Era Committee.
Rolen received 76.3% of the votes, just over the 75% required for adoption. A few players were just below that line Todd Helton at 72.2%, Bill Wagner at 68.1% and Andrew Jones at 58.1%. Here are the full BBWAA results.
Indiana native, Rolen was selected by the Phillies in the second round of the 1993 draft. Rising through the majors, he debuted in 1996 at just 21 years old. He scored at a below-average rate in that 37-game debut, but he really broke out the next year. In 1997, he hit 21 home runs and stole 16 bases en route to a .283/.377/.469 batting line. That performance was 21% better than the league average hitter that year, as evidenced by his 121 wRC+. For that campaign, he was crowned National League Rookie of the Year.
Rolen would contribute similarly for the Phillies over the next few seasons. From 1998 through 2004, he hit between 25 and 34 home runs each season while swiping at least eight bases at that stretch except for the final season. His excellent third base defense was also recognized during this period when he won a Gold Glove Award in 1998. This was the first of eight such awards he would eventually win.
During that time, he joined the Cardinals in 2002, a team for which he had some of his best seasons. The standout season of his career was 2004, when Rolen went deep 34 times and produced a .314/.409/.598 batting line. His wRC+ was 159 and his stellar defense saw him post a 9.0 wins over reserve that year, according to FanGraphs calculations. Just Barry Bonds and Adrian Beltre were able to beat him in terms of fWAR that year. Bonds took home the National League Most Valuable Player award that year, with Rolen finishing fourth in the voting, also behind Beltre and Albert Pujols.
In 2005, he only played 56 games before injuring his shoulder and eventually requiring season-ending surgery. In 2006, he got back on track with another strong season, hitting 22 homers and producing at an above-average level. The Cards won the National League Central Division and eventually won the World Series over the Tigers. Rolen played one more season in St. Louis but was traded to the Blue Jays before the 2008 season. He spent a season and a half in Toronto before joining the Reds, where he spent the rest of his career. In 17 MLB seasons, he hit 316 homers, hit 1,211 runs, drove 1,287 and stole 118 bases. He assembled seven All-Star teams, won eight Gold Gloves, a Rookie of the Year award and a World Series.
In 2018 he was inducted into the Hall of Fame for the first time. He received 10.2% of the vote, well below the 75% threshold for admission but well above the 5% minimum required to stay on the ballot. In the following years, his share of the vote grew to 17.2%, 35.3%, 52.9% and 63.2%, only to finally overcome the hump here in 2023. MLBTR congratulates him on his induction.
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