Scott Rolen of the Reds

Okay, so here were are at the end of June and the Cincinnati Reds are battling the St. Louis Cardinals for first place in the National League Central division.  What’s with that?  Well, for one thing, the Reds have the highest batting average in the National League, and they also lead the league in runs scored and are third in home runs through games of June 29th.   So they’re hitting the ball pretty good right now, and one of those doing the hitting is third baseman Scott Rolen.

Rolen hit his 300th career home run in the Reds’7-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies June 28th. For the season, Rolen has 17 home runs, tied for 2nd in the National League, and 53 RBIs, tied for 5th best in the league.  Earlier in his career, he routinely was hitting 25+ home runs a season, and had 100 or more RBIs 5 times in his years with the Philadelphia Phillies and St. Louis Cardinals.  He was the National League Rookie of the Year with the Phillies in 1997.  He’s been a 5 time All Star and is great with his glove, winning 7 Gold Gloves at his position.  However, a multitude of injuries took their toll starting in 2005. His production dropped dramatically into the realm of mediocrity and the Cincinnati Reds essentially grabbed him off of the Toronto Blue Jay’s scrapheap in a trade last July.  The deal is paying off.  Rolen is back to his level of production from his pre injury days, and is a big factor in keeping the Reds hot.

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Tags: cincinnati reds, philadelphia phillies, scott, st louis cardinals, toronto blue jays