Editorials

The Leadership Of Jimmy Rollins Is Worth More Than Any Stat

Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports
Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports

PAGES: 1 | 2

The veteran shortstop credited the work he has done with Dodgers hitting coach Mark McGwire along with assistant hitting coach John Valentin after his productive series against the Mets last month. Rollins remained steadfast in his approach at the plate, and Mattingly has pointed to the quality of at-bats and consistency Rollins has brought.



Rollins is batting .310/.355/.397 over 14 August games and his veteran leadership figures to become more valuable now that Howie Kendrick is on the disabled list with a hamstring strain. Even though the 36-year-old Oakland native hasn’t been hitting like a Hanley Ramirez, Rollins still has put up admirable numbers out of the shortstop position this year for the Dodgers.

His 11 home runs rank sixth among all shortstops, and he’s fifth with 54 runs scored and is ahead of the likes of Troy Tulowitzki and Ian Desmond with 20 doubles. Defense is what brought Rollins to the Dodgers this offseason with team president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman’s focus on shoring up the middle infield as one of his goals coming into the organization.

Gone are the days of double clutching throws from Ramirez or high flying errant throws by Dee Gordon. The Dodgers went from being one of the worst defensive teams in the league (107 errors in 2014), to now one of the best in 2015.

The Dodgers have committed the only 52 errors so far this season which is second-best in the Majors behind Baltimore. As much as I was a fan of Ramirez’s moon shots, the reliability and experience of Rollins has bolstered the Dodgers middle infield defense as well as the consistency of healthy, quality starts at shortstop.

Corey Seager’s Dodgers debut has been anxiously awaited by fans, but I’m not sure an early Seager addition to the team this season would have necessarily resulted in much of a quantifiable difference in the standings.

Seager, who is ready to take over the starting shortstop position from Rollins after impressing in Triple-A Oklahoma City this season, will hopefully be able to utilize Rollins’ experience if he should be called up in September. Even just one month under Rollins’ wing could really be valuable for Corey Seager’s transition into the Majors.

When I first saw Rollins in a Dodgers uniform during Spring Training, he was already making a scene at Camelback Ranch and interacting with fans. Chants of “Jim-my! Jim-my!” fed into his boisterous personality on the backfields in Arizona. I had a feeling that the career Phillie turned Dodger would fit right into the L.A. scene.

[divide]

Alex Wood On First Win With Dodgers

Previous page 1 2

Staff Writer

Staff Writer features content written by our site editors along with our staff of contributing writers. Thank you for your readership.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button