If one looks at it literally, Jimmy Rollins was correct in saying the Phillies were the team to beat in the National League East. At 2-8, boy are they ever the team to beat.
Yet despite sparking his teammates to back his words with winning baseball, Rollins has more than stood out through the early going of the season. Notoriously a poor starter during most of his career with the Phillies, Rollins leads the league with six homers, is second with 12 runs and is third in OPS (1.201) and slugging percentage (.783). Meanwhile, he slips into the top 10 in RBIs (11), on-base percentage (.418) and walks (8). A season after setting career highs in all of those statistical categories save for on-base percentage, Rollins, 28, appears to be settling into his prime.
But that’s where it gets curious. Is Rollins settling into his prime as a leadoff hitter or as a middle-of-the-order slugger? Certainly all followers of the Phillies have opinions on the topic, but the only one (or two) that matter aren’t budging.
The fact of the matter is that Jimmy Rollins is the Phillies’ leadoff hitter now and for the foreseeable future.
“I’m not saying I want to do anything,” manager Charlie Manuel said on Friday with his daily powwow with the writers. “I haven’t even thought about (a lineup change).”
Certainly Manuel has more important things to worry about than moving Rollins out of the leadoff spot, and frankly, Manuel seems to be taking the if-it-ain’t-broke approach where he can. In fact, since Manuel took over as skipper from Larry Bowa one of the first things he did was put Rollins at the top spot and to stop worrying about it. After bouncing around from the top third and bottom third of the order with Bowa in charge, Rollins has just 35 at-bats outside of the leadoff spot since Manuel took over before the 2005 season.
No doubt there were plenty calling for Manuel to move Rollins out of the top spot based on his pedestrian on-base percentage and his long stretches where he drew nary a walk. But now it seems as if Manuel’s patience has been rewarded.
“I feel like for me to want to move him we would have to need something down in our lineup,” Manuel said. “But I wouldn't do that (now). ... I don't plan on doing that. I'm not saying I won't do anything, but I haven't thought about (moving Rollins).”
Rollins, Manuel says, is a lot like his boyhood hero Rickey Henderson except for the walks of course. The quintessential leadoff man, Henderson bashed nearly 300 home runs during his long career, which was a terrifying dichotomy for the opposition when his all-time best stolen bases and second-best walks are measured in.
At the same time, Alfonso Soriano swiped 41 bags and smashed 46 homers hitting mostly in the leadoff spot for the Washington Nationals last season.
With stolen base numbers that hover in the mid-30s to low 40s, could a season like Soriano’s be in Rollins’ not-so distant future?
“He hit 25 last year. I’m not setting an amount on him and hopefully he’s not setting an amount,” Manuel said. “If he hits the ball out front with a good short swing, that’s what a home run is.”
Rollins, it seems, definitely knows what a home runs is. But will he get so familiar with the round-tripper that he outgrows his spot at the top of the Phillies’ batting order?