Phillies’ former SS Jimmy Rollins deserves to be in the Hall of Fame

Jimmy Rollins — to you, the reader, that name might not mean a whole lot. Still, Jimmy Rollins was one of baseball’s best shortstops for nearly 15 years, was a franchise icon for the Philadelphia Phillies, and put together a unique career, a career that I believe to be worthy of the Hall of Fame.

Jimmy Rollins has now entered his second year on the Hall of Fame ballot, and even though the Phillies’ former shortstop will probably stay on the ballot for another year, many people don’t think of him as a Hall of Fame-caliber player, and many put him in “The Hall of Very Good,” which is an excellent way of saying, “you were good, but not good enough.”.

I, however, think Rollins was good enough; I believe that he had a very unique, and in a lot of ways, elite career, and a career that every kind of Hall of Fame voter can get behind.

Former Phillies’ shortstop Jimmy Rollins was a unique player who deserves to be in the Hall of Fame.

Hall of Fame voters are usually grouped into three different kinds of people:

People who vote based on traditional statistics, i.e., batting average, home runs, stolen bases, RBI, etc.

People who vote based on a player’s accomplishments, i.e., MVPs, Gold Glove awards, Silver Sluggers, and World Series won.

People who vote based on what analytics and data tell you about a player, i.e., WAR, OPS+, BSR, and DRS.

The interesting thing about Jimmy Rollins is that he applies to all three kinds of voters!

Let’s start our Hall of Fame case for Jimmy Rollins by using only the most basic and traditional stats.