Scott Rolen elected to Baseball Hall of Fame

After six turns on the ballot, former Cincinnati Reds 3B Scott Rolen is officially headed to Cooperstown. By one of the slimmest margins in voting history - just 5 votes over the threshold needed - Rolen became the lone member elected by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America this go-around, with former Colorado Rockies legend Todd Helton coming up just 11 votes shy.

Rolen, a former National League Rookie of the Year, 7x All Star, 8x Gold Glove winner, and swatter of 316 career homers was long overdue, in my own personal opinion. 3B has historically been a neglected corner of Hall voting, and Rolen’s career 70.1 bWAR is more than dozens of his now-contemporaries within the Hall.

As laid out by Eno Sarris of The Athletic, Rolen ranks quite prominently among his 3B peers in the Hall, too.

Scott’s final four seasons came with the Reds after he had long established himself on a Hall-worthy path with the Philadelphia Phillies and St. Louis Cardinals. All that remains to be seen at this juncture is whether or not his beef with former Cardinals manager Tony La Russa will impact which cap he dons as he enters the Hall.

Congrats, Scott!