Scott Rolen voted into Baseball hall of reputation, joins Fred McGriff in 2023 class - The Athletic

through Katie Woo, C. Trent Rosecrans and Nick Groke

Scott Rolen is a hall of Famer. The veteran of 17 large league seasons become voted into the Baseball hall of fame by way of the Baseball Writers' association of the united states (BBWAA), the corridor of reputation announced Tuesday. Rolen turned into the simplest player to get hold of adequate votes to qualify for enshrinement. right here's what you should comprehend:

On the ballot for the sixth time this 12 months, Rolen received essentially the most votes of any returnee from remaining yr, earning 76.3 p.c in 2023 after receiving sixty three.2 % of the 394 votes cast in 2022.

Rolen was voted into the hall of fame by means of five votes. He joins six different players who made it by using that small of a margin.

Rolen played 17 seasons in MLB with the Phillies, Cardinals, Reds and Blue Jays. He boasts a career batting typical of .281 with 1,287 RBI and 316 home runs.

Fred McGriff, elected by using the modern Baseball era Committee in December, may be inducted into the corridor in July.

Backstory

approximately 400 BBWAA members voted on the 2023 ballot. Eligible players want seventy five % of those to include their identify for enshrinement within the corridor of repute. they are faraway from the pollif they acquire less than 5 percent or had been on the ballot 10 times without election.

there were 14 new players eligible in 2023: Bronson Arroyo, Carlos Beltrán, Matt Cain, R.A. Dickey, Jacoby Ellsbury, Andre Ethier, J.J. Hardy, John Lackey, Mike Napoli, Jhonny Peralta, Francisco Rodríguez, Huston road, Jered Weaver and Jayson Werth.

Fourteen former gamers returned to the ballot this 12 months: Rolen, Todd Helton, Billy Wagner, Andruw Jones, Gary Sheffield, Alex Rodriguez, Jeff Kent, Manny Ramírez, Omar Vizquel, Andy Pettitte, Jimmy Rollins, Bobby Abreu, Mark Buehrle and Torii Hunter.

Rolen, an eight-time Gold Glove winner and 2006 World series champion with the Cardinals, joins Chipper Jones as just the 2d third baseman who debuted within the ultimate 40 years to be enshrined in Cooperstown. together with his induction, Rolen turns into the seventeenth third baseman to enter the hall of fame.

First-time eligible players for the 2024 category might encompass José Bautista, Adrián Beltré, Bartolo Colón, Adrián González, Matt Holliday, Jim Johnson, Víctor Martínez, Joe Mauer, Brandon Phillips, José Reyes, James Shields, Chase Utley, David Wright and Brad Ziegler.

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Scott Rolen voted into Baseball corridor of fame

The Athletic's rapid analysis:

Why Rolen become voted in

Already a member of the Cardinals' hall of reputation, Rolen's national hall of reputation case had been step by step trending upward over the closing couple of seasons. while his shielding prowess was on no account questionable, the strides baseball has made in regard to measuring protecting excellence certainly played into that. although his eight-profession Gold Gloves are exquisite enough, Rolen additionally compiled a 21.2 protecting battle all the way through his profession and recorded 114 shielding runs saved from 2003 (when DRS became an reliable stat) unless his retirement in 2012.

He never led any specific offensive category in any season in his career, however he surpassed 300 profession domestic runs (316), 2,000 hits (2,077) and 500 doubles (517) and his 70.1 profession conflict is the ninth-greatest mark amongst third basemen within the historical past of the activity. — Woo

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hall of repute election: Stark's 5 takeaways from Scott Rolen's triumph and a historic vote

Helton just misses

Helton, the longtime Rockies' first baseman, fell simply 11 votes shy of election. Larry Walker, a different Rockies brilliant, changed into elected in 2020 on his tenth and remaining ballot with just six votes to spare above the 75 % needed. And Walker looks to have paved a direction for Helton, overcoming the perceived negatives of having played at Coors field, a excessive-elevation park that may inflate some information.

Helton has now jumped close election in about half the period of time that Walker vital. And, if heritage holds, Helton should predict election next yr. Helton played his full 17-year profession with the Rockies, assisting lead them to the 2007 country wide League pennant. He entire his career with 369 home runs and 1,406 RBIs. He turned into a five-time All-star, four-time Silver Slugger and three-time Gold Glove winner.

And by using park-adjusted OPS+, Helton trails only Lou Gehrig, Jeff Bagwell, Willie McCovey, Albert Pujols and McGriff at first base. disposing of Coors box from the equation completely, Helton had a higher street OPS than a few corridor of Famers, together with Dave Winfield, Eddie Murray, Rickey Henderson, Tony Gwynn and George Brett. — Groke

Which gamers got closer to enshrinement?

other than Rolen's election, the other huge mover become Helton, who went from 52 percent of the vote a yr ago to 72.2 p.c this yr. Helton is in exactly his fifth year of corridor of reputation eligibility, so he should still be a shoo-in to be elected sooner or later and even probably next yr. Wagner, with two greater shots at election, enhanced from fifty one % final year to sixty eight.1 p.c this 12 months, improving his options for eventual induction. Jones bought 58.1 percent of the vote, up from 41.four percent final year. Kent is the only player to extinguish his eligibility, falling brief in his tenth and final ballot.

Rodriguez (35.7 %) and Ramirez (33.2) made modest beneficial properties. Rodriguez is in his 2nd year of eligibility, Ramirez his seventh. while Ramirez's election appears not likely with two more years on the ballot, Rodriguez isn't as quite simply pushed aside. Rodriguez's vote total is slightly more than Rolen's in his third 12 months of eligibility (35.3), however under either Roger Clemens (37.5) or Barry Bonds (36.eight) in their third 12 months on the ballot.

Beltrán's involvement in the Astros' signal-stealing scandal absolutely impacted his vote total, but he did seem on forty six.5 p.c of the ballots. No participant has debuted with more than forty two percent of the vote and never been elected. — Rosencrans

Required analyzing

(photo: G. N. Lowrance / Getty images)