[John Mayberry]

Rollins posted his best season at age 25 and I see it continuing for a few seasons as well.

Whoever was working with him on his plate awareness, they did a great job. A free swinger beforehand, he reigned in his K's, adding 30 points to his OBP.

He posted over 30 SBs for the 3rd time in his career and had over 600 PAs for the 4th year in a row.

I'm not sure that his arc has to much more room to move upwards, but he's a safe bet at a usually thin position.

[joncarlos]

Doesn't seem that there's a lot of love for the 2k5 threads yet, but I for one am excited. Here's a thread we had about Rollins last week:

http://rotojunkie.com/forums/showthr...hlight=rollins

I hated Rollins with a passion early in the season because I needed steals so I had to keep him active, but he couldn't hit his way out of a paper bag. If he puts together a whole season like he hit after April was over, he's got some room to move up.

[TS Garp]

Rollins is an interesting player. He had an amazing debut in 2001, with 46 steals in 54 attempts, to go along with 14 hr's, 54 rbi, and 97 runs and a .274 average. He regressed the next couple of seasons, but had a very nice comeback this year, which seemed to go largely unnoticed by a lot owners for some reason.

I actually think Rollins will build on this season and get even better. He's from Oakland and grew up idolizing Ricky Henderson. It might finally be showing, as he started to become a more patient hitter this season. He's still young (turning 26 at the end of next month) and he had a very nice second half, going .310/.366/.540 after the All-Star break. He also hit 10 hr's after August 1. And, he had his best baserunning season (in terms of success rate) since 2001.

Another thing I like is that after starting slowly in April, Rollins was very consistent all year. Here are his month-to-month splits, starting in May:

May: .280/.325/.364
June: .320/.376/.492
July: .283/.333/.392
August: .298/.389/.553
September: .310/.352/.504

I think Rollins will be a top 3 shortstop next season, and, assuming there are no major changes in the Phillies' lineup, I'll predict the following numbers:

.290, 19 hr's, 75 rbi, 120 runs, 32 sb's

[willthethrill]

I watched 90% of the Phillies games this year and what I saw was Jimmy Rollins deciding that he wanted to be good every day, in other words maturity.

He was, in my opinion, the Phillies best hitter. He got on base a lot (career high in walks), and when he gets on base, he scores runs because he is a fantastic baserunner. Also, he was one of the Phillies toughest hitters with men on base.

I think that the stolen base numbers are going to level off here at the 25-35 range, but I think that the average has some room to go up, and if the Phillies hitters behind him have better years, he'll increase his runs scored.

[johnnya24]

Originally Posted by TS Garp

Rollins is an interesting player. He had an amazing debut in 2001, with 46 steals in 54 attempts, to go along with 14 hr's, 54 rbi, and 97 runs and a .274 average. He regressed the next couple of seasons, but had a very nice comeback this year, which seemed to go largely unnoticed by a lot owners for some reason.

I actually think Rollins will build on this season and get even better. He's from Oakland and grew up idolizing Ricky Henderson. It might finally be showing, as he started to become a more patient hitter this season. He's still young (turning 26 at the end of next month) and he had a very nice second half, going .310/.366/.540 after the All-Star break. He also hit 10 hr's after August 1. And, he had his best baserunning season (in terms of success rate) since 2001.

Another thing I like is that after starting slowly in April, Rollins was very consistent all year. Here are his month-to-month splits, starting in May:

May: .280/.325/.364
June: .320/.376/.492
July: .283/.333/.392
August: .298/.389/.553
September: .310/.352/.504

I think Rollins will be a top 3 shortstop next season, and, assuming there are no major changes in the Phillies' lineup, I'll predict the following numbers:

.290, 19 hr's, 75 rbi, 120 runs, 32 sb's

Love the Avatar!!

[Atrahasis]

I've been a doubter ever since his sophmore year. He always looked like he wanted to try and hit 25 homeruns. But this season, I was impressed by his patience and what seemed like a greater willingness to play little ball and most of all, the steals.

I don't really see Jimmy as a top-3 SS just yet but he can be counted on to hit .285 with 12 HRs and 20-25 SBs. If he could just hit .300 then that would be a breakthrough.

[joncarlos]

Originally Posted by willthethrill

I watched 90% of the Phillies games this year and what I saw was Jimmy Rollins deciding that he wanted to be good every day, in other words maturity.

He was, in my opinion, the Phillies best hitter. He got on base a lot (career high in walks), and when he gets on base, he scores runs because he is a fantastic baserunner. Also, he was one of the Phillies toughest hitters with men on base.

I think that the stolen base numbers are going to level off here at the 25-35 range, but I think that the average has some room to go up, and if the Phillies hitters behind him have better years, he'll increase his runs scored.

Do you think this was Rollins maturing on his own, or did Bowa finally get to him? I know Bowa is horrible at managing pitchers, but is his departure going to have a negative effect in Rollins?

[willthethrill]

Originally Posted by joncarlos

Do you think this was Rollins maturing on his own, or did Bowa finally get to him? I know Bowa is horrible at managing pitchers, but is his departure going to have a negative effect in Rollins?

Good point. Supposedly, Rollins and Bowa got along great. However, I think that Rollins finally saw the light on his own. Rollins made comments throughout the year that he "finally gets it".

[John Mayberry]

Jimmy Rollins. I caught a few Philly games on vacation a few weeks back in Clearwater and the fans adore him.

Nice park for ST too. Clean, nice and new and plenty o' parking. Rollins and Furcal will be battling for the NL 5x5 SS crown, but Rollins would be my choice if given one.

[cavebird]

Originally Posted by willthethrill

I watched 90% of the Phillies games this year and what I saw was Jimmy Rollins deciding that he wanted to be good every day, in other words maturity.

He was, in my opinion, the Phillies best hitter. He got on base a lot (career high in walks), and when he gets on base, he scores runs because he is a fantastic baserunner. Also, he was one of the Phillies toughest hitters with men on base.

I think that the stolen base numbers are going to level off here at the 25-35 range, but I think that the average has some room to go up, and if the Phillies hitters behind him have better years, he'll increase his runs scored.

I can see the reasons for loving Rollins. I can even see an argument that he is a top 3 SS. (Personally, I put him tied for 4th-5th, behind Tejada, Young & Jeter, and even with Furcal.) However, saying he was the Phillies' best hitter last year is the crack rock talking. Thome and Abreau were, and are, undisputably the Phillies' best hitters.