Rookie of the Year: Scott Rolen, 1997

Third Baseman, Philadelphia Phillies

Age:  22 (April 4)

Bats – Right, Throws – Right

Height: 6’4”    Weight: 245

Prior to 1997:

An Indiana native, Rolen was the son of teachers and excelled in basketball as well as baseball in school. He played shortstop in high school until moving to third base as a senior. He displayed excellent range at his new position and accumulated 58 RBIs over 34 games and was voted the top high school baseball player in Indiana. Selected by the Phillies in the second round of the 1993 amateur draft, Rolen chose baseball over a possible basketball scholarship and signed for $250,000. Assigned to Martinsville of the Rookie-level Appalachian League, the 18-year-old batted .313 in 25 games. Moving up to Spartanburg of the Class A South Atlantic League in 1994 he hit .294 with 14 home runs and 72 RBIs and was selected to the league All-Star team. With teams at the advanced Class A and AA levels in 1995 Rolen batted a combined .290 with 13 home runs and 54 RBIs. He started the 1996 season with Reading of the Class AA Eastern League and hit .361 in 61 games with 9 home runs and 42 RBIs before moving up to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre of the Class AAA International League. After batting .274 in 45 games at AAA, he was promoted to the Phillies after the All-Star break where he quickly took over the starting job at third base. In 37 major league games, he hit .254 with 4 home runs and 18 RBIs. Finished for the year when injured from being hit by a pitch, he still maintained his rookie eligibility entering the 1997 season.

1997 Season Summary

Appeared in 156 games

3B – 155, PR – 1

[Bracketed numbers indicate NL rank in Top 20]

Batting

Plate Appearances – 657 [16]

At Bats – 561

Runs – 93 [14]

Hits – 159

Doubles – 35 [17]

Triples – 3

Home Runs – 21

RBI – 92 [19, tied with Steve Finley]

Bases on Balls – 76 [14, tied with Chipper Jones & Darren Daulton]

Int. BB – 4

Strikeouts – 138 [5]

Stolen Bases – 16

Caught Stealing – 6

Average - .283

OBP - .377

Slugging Pct. - .469

Total Bases – 263

GDP – 6

Hit by Pitches – 13 [9, tied with John Olerud & Jeff Kent]

Sac Hits – 0

Sac Flies – 7 [14, tied with nine others]

Midseason snapshot: HR – 10, RBI – 48, AVG - .284, SLG - .467

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Most hits, game – 3 on six occasions

Longest hitting streak – 14 games

Most HR, game – 2 (in 5 AB) at Baltimore 7/2, (in 5 AB) vs. Florida 9/27  
HR at home – 11

HR on road – 10

Multi-HR games – 2

Most RBIs, game – 5 vs. Florida 6/23, at Florida 7/11

Pinch-hitting – No appearances

Fielding

Chances – 459

Put Outs – 144

Assists – 291

Errors – 24

DP – 30

Pct. - .948

Awards & Honors:

NL Rookie of the Year: BBWAA

NL ROY Voting (Top 5):

Scott Rolen, Phila.: 140 pts. – 28 of 28 first place votes, 100% share

Livan Hernandez, Fla.: 25 pts. – 18% share

Matt Morris, StL.: 25 pts. – 18% share

Rich Loiselle, Pitt.: 22 pts. – 16% share

Andruw Jones, Atl.: 15 pts. – 11% share

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Phillies went 68-94 to finish fifth in the NL Eastern Division, 33 games behind the division-winning Atlanta Braves while ranking last in the league in home runs (116), slugging (.385), and total bases (2098). Following a 4-22 June, the Phillies were 24-61 at the All-Star break and mired in the NL East basement.

Aftermath of ‘97:

Following his outstanding rookie season, Rolen signed a four-year, $10 million contract with the Phillies. He had another strong season in 1998 in which he batted .290 with 31 home runs and 110 RBIs and received his first Gold Glove. Dealing with a painful back injury over the next two seasons, Rolen hit .268 in 1999 with 26 home runs and 77 RBIs and .298 in 2000 with 26 home runs and 89 RBIs. In 2001 he clashed with new manager Larry Bowa and team executive assistant Dallas Green, a former manager, who both publicly criticized him. In any case he had a strong season in which he hit .289 with 25 home runs and 107 RBIs. Coming up on the final year of his contract in 2002, Rolen turned down the team’s seven-year offer and was critical of the club’s commitment to building a winning team. In 2002 he was selected as an All-Star for the first time but with friction between him and the organization he was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals at the end of July. With a strong second half for his new team, Rolen ended up batting a combined .266 with 31 home runs and 110 RBIs. He agreed to an eight-year, $90 million contract extension with the Cardinals prior to the end of the season. He was solid at bat and in the field in 2003, hitting .286 with 28 home runs and 104 RBIs while earning his fifth Gold Glove. St. Louis won the NL pennant in 2004 and Rolen contributed 34 home runs, 124 RBIs, and a .314 average. He added three more home runs and 6 RBIs in the NLCS win against Houston but was hitless in the four-game World Series loss to the Red Sox. The Cards were division champs again in 2005 and Rolen was limited to 56 games due to a shoulder injury and he hit just .235 with 5 home runs and 28 RBIs. He rebounded in 2006 by batting .296 with 22 home runs and 95 RBIs for the division-winning Cardinals. He slumped during the season’s second half, although he remained a Gold Glove defender, and was benched twice during the postseason run that resulted in a World Series title. Still he hit safely in his last 10 postseason games, including a .421 average in the five-game World Series triumph over Detroit. Rolen suffered through an injury-plagued season in 2007 in which he hit .265 in 112 games with 8 home runs and 58 RBIs and his relationship with manager Tony LaRussa soured. In the offseason he was dealt to Toronto for third baseman Troy Glaus. Injuries limited Rolen to 115 games in 2008 and he batted .262 with 11 home runs and 50 RBIs. He got off to a strong start with the Blue Jays in 2009 that included a 25-game hitting streak prior to his being traded to Cincinnati at the end of July. A serious beaning forced him to the disabled list early in his tenure with the Reds, but he hit well following his return and ended up batting a combined .305 with 11 home runs and 67 RBIs. He was an All-Star with the Reds in 2010 on his way to 20 home runs, 83 RBIs, and a .285 average. He also received his first Gold Glove since 2006. Rolen lasted for two more injury-plagued years with Cincinnati to finish out his career. For his major league career, he batted .281 with 2077 hits that included 517 doubles, 43 triples, and 316 home runs. He further scored 1211 runs and compiled 1287 RBIs and 118 stolen bases. With the Phillies he batted .282 with 880 hits, 207 doubles, 19 triples, 150 home runs, 559 RBIs, 71 stolen bases, and 533 runs scored. Appearing in 39 postseason games he batted .220 with 5 home runs and 12 RBIs. The reserved but hard-playing Rolen was a seven-time All-Star who was awarded eight Gold Gloves and a Silver Slugger.

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Rookie of the Year Profiles feature players who were recipients of the Rookie of the Year Award by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (1947 to present). The award was presented to a single major league winner from its inception through 1948 and from 1949 on to one recipient from each major league.