Darowski: The Hall of Fame case for Scott Rolen
From SABR member Adam Darowski at the Hall of Stats on November 27, 2017:
I’m going to cut right to the chase—Scott Rolen is on this year’s Hall of Fame ballot. Chipper Jones (170 Hall Rating, 53rd all time, 6th among 3B) and Jim Thome (137 Hall Rating, 96th all time, 10th among 1B) are the high profile newcomers and seem good bets to be inducted in their first year. Rolen’s statistical resume (142 Hall Rating, 85th all time, 8th among 3B) should put him in that conversation as well. However, I’m afraid he won’t reach the 5% of the vote necessary to stay on the ballot for a second year (a fate recently experienced by Hall of Stats inductees Kenny Lofton and Kevin Brown).
Cooperstown generally doesn’t know what to do with third basemen. Out of 220 players in the Hall of Fame, only 12 are third basemen. The Hall of Stats adds six third basemen while removing three. Until recently, even Adrian Beltre was only considered a Hall of Famer by the saber-slanted observer, though his demolition of the 3,000 hit milestone and impending 500th home run seem to be changing the perception there.
Read the full article here: http://www.hallofstats.com/articles/the-hall-of-fame-case-for-scott-rolen
Originally published: November 27, 2017. Last Updated: November 27, 2017.