The Philadelphia Phillies are usually playing their best baseball when their spark plug is productive. “As J-Roll goes, the Phillies go.” 2009 was no different.
Before the season started, Rollins batted .417 with a home run and four RBIs for Team USA during the World Baseball Classic. With the hot start, it was thought that Rollins would carrying his success into the regular season. However, it was only a sample size of at-bats. Things didn’t go as planned, and Rollins batted .229 during the first half of the season.
The Phillies started to struggle in Interleague play, and after an 0-for-28 slump in late June, Charlie Manuel benched Rollins for four games. His average plummeted to .205, so Manuel thought some time off would clear his mind.
Rollins returned and batted .358 in his next 13 games, which included seven multi-hit games. In addition, it led to a re-surged Phillies ball club. In July, Rollins batted .313 with a .924 on-base plus slugging percentage.
Rollins continued to improve as the season moved along. He hit .272 with 14 home runs in the second half of the season. Rollins batted .234 in the playoffs, but his walk-off hit in the National League Championship Series overshadowed everything.
As always, Rollins defense was stellar. His best fielding percentage among all shortstops led to his third consecutive Gold Glove Award.
During this off season, the Phillies already picked up Rollins’ $8.5 million option for 2011. If he keeps goin’, so will the Phillies. Afterall, he’s only the best shortstop in Phillies history.
2009 stats: 155 games, .250 AVG, .296 OBP, .423 SLG, .719 OPS, 21 HR, 77 RBI, 31 SB
Grade: 7.9 — His defense was always there, but his offense only showed up for half of the season. If the grade was based on clutch hits in the playoffs, he’d get a perfect ten.
This concludes our 2009 Year In Review. To view the entire list, click here and enjoy all of the player recaps.
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