Jimmy Rollins
James Calvin Rollins, nicknamed "J-Roll", is an American former professional baseball shortstop, who played in Major League Baseball for the Philadelphia Phillies, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Chicago White Sox.
After growing up in Alameda, California, and attending Encinal High School, Rollins was drafted by the Phillies in the second round of the 1996 MLB draft. After spending most of five seasons with Phillies minor league teams, he made his big league debut on September 17, 2000.
At the major league level, Rollins quickly earned recognition as an excellent defensive shortstop. In, he became the Phillies' leadoff hitter, a role he retained for almost ten years. Rollins made three All-Star Game appearances in his career. While with the Phillies, he compiled a 38-game hitting streak, which spanned the end of the 2005 season and the start of the 2006 season, the longest in team history. Rollins was named the National League Most Valuable Player in, as the Phillies won their division in the first of five consecutive seasons. He was also a key component of the 2008 World Series champion team that defeated the Tampa Bay Rays.
Internationally, Rollins represented the United States. At the 2009 World Baseball Classic, he hit a.417 batting average and was named to the All-World Baseball Classic Team.
In his career, Rollins led the NL four times in triples, and once each in runs, stolen bases, and stolen base percentage. As of 2025, he is the Phillies career leader in at bats, hits, doubles, and power-speed number, second in games played and stolen bases, and third in runs scored and triples. Rollins won the Gold Glove Award four times, as well as the Silver Slugger Award, and the Roberto Clemente Award.
Family and background
Rollins grew up in Alameda as a member of an athletic family. His mother played competitive fastpitch softball, and he credits the experience with helping him develop a cerebral approach to the game, as well as a passion for the middle infield. His father was a wrestler and weightlifter. Rollins has been described as having "a near-photographic memory of games and at-bats and pitches". Rollins' brother, Antwon, played with minor league affiliates of the Texas Rangers. His sister, Shay Rollins, was a starter on the University of San Francisco's women's basketball team, and he is the cousin of former MLB player Tony Tarasco. Despite the athletes in his family, his father encouraged Rollins to pursue music as well as baseball. Rollins played the trumpet while growing up, and participated in various MC Hammer and Mavis Staples music videos during his adolescent years. Rollins was an Oakland Athletics fan growing up and regularly attended games at Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum.In 1996, Rollins graduated from Encinal High School in Alameda. His parents refused to let him continue playing football, instead directing him to focus on baseball. He finished his high school baseball career as the holder of 10 school records, including highest batting average, and most stolen bases. For his performance, USA Today named him a member of its All-USA High School Baseball Team, and Baseball America named him the top infielder in Northern California, as well as a second-team All-American. The American Baseball Coaches Association and Rawlings also named Rollins to their All-America Second Team. He committed to play college baseball at Arizona State University on a scholarship, but after "effusive" praise from Phillies' Bay Area scout Bob Poole, the team drafted him in the second round of the 1996 Major League Baseball draft.
Professional career
Minor leagues: 1996–2000
After being drafted by the Phillies in the second round of the 1996 draft, Rollins was assigned to the rookie-league Martinsville Phillies. He led the team in walks and stole 20 bases, but batted only.238/.351/.285.However, Rollins still earned a promotion to the low-A Piedmont Boll Weevils for the 1997 season. The youngest player on the team at age 18, he led the team in games played, at-bats, runs, hits, triples, stolen bases, and walks. Rollins batted.270/.330/.370 and had 560 at-bats, over 100 more than second-place Dave Francia. For his performance, he was named a co-winner of the Paul Owens Award, given to the Phillies' top minor league player. At the end of the season, Rollins played in the Florida Instructional League.
Rollins was promoted to high-A Clearwater in 1998. While playing alongside future Phillies teammates Pat Burrell, Johnny Estrada, Adam Eaton, and Brandon Duckworth, Rollins batted.244/.306/.354 with 18 doubles and 23 stolen bases; once again, he was the youngest player on the team. Eaton, Burrell, and Rollins were all promoted to AA Reading together the next year, and Rollins led the team in games and at-bats, as well as hits. His 145 hits gave him an average of.273, and led to a late-season promotion to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, where he played four games. In 2000, he led Scranton in games played, doubles, and triples, and helped lead the team to the playoffs.
Rollins received a September call-up to the Phillies. He debuted on September 17 Wearing #29 against the Florida Marlins and had two hits in four at-bats in the game, with his first MLB hit being a triple off of Chuck Smith of the Marlins. He batted.321 in 14 games, stealing three bases and batting in five runs. After the season, Baseball America named him the Phillies' top organizational prospect. He was a finalist for the United States national baseball team to participate in the 2000 Olympics.
Philadelphia Phillies
2001–2004
Rollins switched uniform numbers from 29 to what would be his permanent uniform number 11, despite wearing number 6 for the 2003 season only. Rollins spent the entire 2001 season with the major league Phillies and hit his first MLB home run on May 2 off of Brian Bohanon of the Colorado Rockies. In his rookie season Rollins led the National League in triples and stolen bases, becoming the first rookie to do so since 1951, and led the NL in at bats. He was a member of the NL all-star team in the 2001 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, the Phillies only representative. In July, he took over from Doug Glanville as the Phillies' leadoff hitter, a role he maintained for nearly a decade. At the conclusion of the season, the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum named him the co-winner of the Cool Papa Bell Award, given to the stolen bases leader; MLB managers voted him to the Topps Major League Rookie All-Star team; and Baseball America named him the fifth-best rookie in MLB.Image:Baseball jimmy rollins 2004.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Jimmy Rollins at bat, 2004.
Entering the 2002 season, despite his youth, Rollins sought to be a leader in the Phillies' clubhouse; an article in The Philadelphia Inquirer said, "Rollins, even at just 23 years old, may now have the clout needed to be a stern voice that makes a difference in the clubhouse and on the field." Rollins' season was characterized by a strong first half, and a "sophomore jinx" at the plate that plagued him in the second half of the season. For his performance in the early months of the season, he earned his second consecutive selection to the MLB All-Star game, in doing so becoming the first Phillie and first MLB shortstop ever to reach the game in each of his first two seasons. After the all-star game, however, he struggled at the plate, striking out frequently and chasing many high pitches that were out of the strike zone. Ultimately, Rollins finished the season among the NL leaders in defensive statistics – he compiled a.980 fielding percentage, 695 total chances, 504 assists, and 226 putouts. Meanwhile, offensively, he regressed from his 2001 campaign, batting.245/.306/.380 with 11 home runs, but still leading the NL with 10 triples; he stole 31 bases, 15 fewer than he did in 2001. After the season, he participated in the Major League Baseball Japan All-Star Series.
Prior to the 2003 season, he worked with Tony Gwynn on skills at the plate, predominantly using the whole field and being more of a "slap hitter". However, he began the season slowly, sustaining a hamstring injury in spring training that hindered his progress, and ultimately struggling at the plate early in the season, causing manager Larry Bowa to drop him in the lineup. Throughout the season, he sought to maintain the focus that he admitted to having lost the previous season, and he eventually rebounded to post a "respectable" stat line – a.263/.320/.387 with eight home runs and 62 RBIs, though he stole what at the time was a career-low 20 bases. Among his season highlights were a game-winning RBI against John Smoltz in June, and stealing his 100th career base in September, both of which occurred in games against the Atlanta Braves.
On January 15, Rollins signed a $2.4 million contract with the Phillies to avoid salary arbitration. According to one biography of Rollins,
Overall, he achieved another "quadruple-double", his first career grand slam and posted career highs in a plethora of offensive categories including batting average, slugging percentage, RBIs, and hits.
2005–2007
Under new manager Charlie Manuel, whose offensive strategy predominantly revolved around hitting many home runs, Rollins struggled to post a strong batting average early in the Phillies' 2005 season. Nevertheless, he was again selected to the NL All-Star team. His offensive strategy changed in early August, when he began a hitting streak that spanned the season's final 36 games; during the streak, he hit.379. It was the longest hitting streak in Phillies' history, surpassing Ed Delahanty, whose streak lasted 31 games. Throughout the streak, Rollins aspired to maintain a team-first mentality, and noted that he would trade the streak for a playoff berth: "If we lose and I keep the streak, what does that mean? The season is automatically over. The playoffs is everything. That's what we all want." Ultimately, the Phillies missed the playoffs by one game. Overall, Rollins compiled his fourth career quadruple-double, tying Johnny Damon for most among active players, and batted.290/.338/.431 with 12 home runs, 54 RBIs, and 41 stolen bases.The 2006 Phillies season began with much hype surrounding Rollins, and whether he could extend his hitting streak to pass Joe DiMaggio's record 56 games. He extended the streak two games into the season, but it ended on April 6 when he failed to get a hit in a game against the St. Louis Cardinals. He struggled during the first half of the season, posting a batting average of just.259, but rebounded during the second half, ultimately posting strong cumulative numbers once again. He became the third player in Phillies' history to score at least 100 runs in three consecutive seasons, and led all NL shortstops in RBIs, runs scored, extra-base hits, and total bases. He was just short, however, of another quadruple-double. Cumulatively, he hit.277/.334/.478 with 25 home runs and 83 RBIs and 36 stolen bases. Once again, the Phillies barely missed the playoffs.
Before spring training, Rollins announced that the Phillies were the "Team to Beat" in the National League East:
It became a sports media sensation, especially given that the New York Mets had won the division in 2006 with relative ease. The claim was widely reported, often without the second part of the quote. USA Today columnist Hal Bodley opined, "The Phillies have needed someone to light a fire, especially in April. Rollins' bold, if not arrogant, prediction might just do that." During the first half of the season, it appeared Rollins had spoken prematurely, as the Mets jumped out to an early divisional lead. On June 28, Rollins had a four-hit game against the Cincinnati Reds, including a game-tying triple. The triple was Rollins' 10th, which gave him his fifth career "quadruple–double".
In August, the Mets' lead began to dissipate, as the Phillies combined several solid series; Rollins was a key component of their success. Rollins was named the National League Player of the Week for August 27 to September 2, 2007. On September 25 against the Atlanta Braves, Rollins hit the home run that completed his 30–30 season. On the last day of the 2007 season, Rollins became the seventh player to collect at least 20 doubles, 20 triples, and 20 home runs in one season when he hit his 20th triple of the year in a 6–1 win over the Washington Nationals that clinched the National League East division championship for the Phillies, which confirmed Rollins' preseason assertion of the Phillies preeminence.
For the 2007 season, he batted.296/.344/.531 and led the league in games, at bats, runs, and triples, was second in hits, total bases, extra base hits, and power-speed number, and had 30 home runs, 94 RBIs, and 41 stolen bases. He achieved the "quadruple-double", becoming the fourth player in history to accomplish the mark. He would join Jim Bottomley as the only players to record a 30 double, 20 triple, and 30 home run season. The club advanced to the playoffs for the first time since their 1993 World Series loss; however, they were swept by the Colorado Rockies in the National League Division Series.
Rollins was named the National League's Most Valuable Player. He also received the NLBM Oscar Charleston Legacy Award, and won the first of three consecutive Gold Glove Awards, becoming the first Phillies shortstop to win a Gold Glove since Larry Bowa in 1978. He was the first player in MLB history to record 200 hits, 20 triples, 30 home runs, and 30 stolen bases in a season. Rollins also set a single-season MLB record for plate appearances with 778.