Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Phillies 2013 Review: Shortstop

The Phillies shortstop remained quite healthy in 2013. Jimmy Rollins played in 160 games and had arguably the worst season of his career statistical wise. Without a doubt, 2013 showed the decline of Jimmy Rollins offensively. Rollins had a batting average of .252, an OBP of .318, hit 6 home runs and drove in 39 runs. The biggest stat that went in decline was his runs scored. Rollins only scored 65 runs and in the previous 12 seasons Rollins has scored 80 or more runs in 10 of them and 100 or more runs in six of them. Players in previous seasons have praised Rollins for being the teams spark plug, and the Phillies chances of winning games when Rollins scored a run was exponentially higher than the games when he doesn't.

There is another side to the runs scored stat. Unless you are a home run hitter, a player cannot score a run without his teammates. With the lack of offensive production behind Rollins he was unable to score more runs but nonetheless Rollins struggled to score runs in 2013.

In seasons past Rollins has always had a home run stroke which was a good and bad thing. Rollins has always frustrated fans by popping out to infielders or shallow outfield. Typically, when Rollins pops out to the infield this means that he was trying to hit a home run and through the course of a season when he tries to hit for a home run as many times as he has in past seasons he connects on 15 to 20 of them. But with only 6 home runs last season, Rollins "pop" in his bat has completely disappeared. Whether it's due to old age or declining abilities Rollins is not the same player is was two years ago or even one year ago. Fortunately for the Phillies, the 2014 season could be Rollins' last with them. He has an option for 2015 which becomes guaranteed with 534 plate appearances in 2014 and is not on the disabled list at the end of the season. If he is on the disabled list at the end of 2014 a mutual doctor will have to agree that he will be healthy by the 2015 season.

Rollins' defensive skills have not diminished much. His overall range may not be as good as it once was but Rollins can still pick it with the best of them. I feel like Rollins can still play and contribute to the Phillies. How much can he contribute? That is up to him. Rollins said he is playing for records last season and if he wants to break those records he is going to have to play better than he did in 2013.

No comments:

Post a Comment