Scott Rolen Makes Baseball HoF

[ProfessorGAC]

He was a fine player, but looking at his career stats I'm surprised he got 75% of the vote.
.281 hitter with 318 HR. But he struck out over 1,400 times.
His runs prevented fielding is 75, which is good but not stunning and his aggregate WAR is 70.
If he got in, Machado & Arenado are locks. They're both over 50 WAR with several years to play.

[True Dough]

1. I've been hearing quite a bit of chatter about this

on sports talk podcasts. Some pundits think Rolen got in because the HoF voters (the Baseball Writers Association of America) felt pressure after having so few inductees over the past few years.

Here's their recent voting record:

2023 - Scott Rolen

2022 - David Ortiz

2021 - Nobody

2020 - Derek Jeter and Larry Walker


Others point out that Rolen arguably is not as worthy as some players on the outside looking in, even ones not entangled in the steroid/PEDs controversy. Players like Jeff Kent, Nomar Garciaparra, Kenny Lofton, Hal McRae, Bobby Abreu, etc.

And Don Mattingly!! Don't forget about Donnie Baseball!