Even in Philadelphia, I get to hear a lot about Jose Reyes. Dynamic player this and sparkplug to offense that. Blah blah blah. I can't deny he's a good player. I'd be an idiot to do that. I can certainly say that watching him leg out a triple isn't my favorite thing to watch in baseball these days (a paraphrase from Peter Gammons). Even if I did enjoy watching that, I'd only have had the pleasure of having seen it seven times this year so far. Who's got double the triples? None other than Philadelphia Philly Jimmy Rollins.There's a lot of good shortstops in the NL, so getting overlooked is understandable. But which shortstop has the most runs in the NL? Which shortstop has the most total bases in the NL? I'm not talking about just SS's, I'm talking about over all players. The answer, of course, is our boy Jimmy.
Of course, you can throw Reyes stats at me as well. More stolen bases than whole other teams, and all that. But then, how many times has Reyes been caught stealing? Please compare that percentage to Jimmy's, and it's not nearly as impressive.
Of course, the biggest knock on Jimmy will always be his on-base percentage. It's not very good for a leadoff hitter, which is, admittedly, a huge stat for the starting guy of your offense. Jose Reyes currently holds a .376 obp, easily beating Jimmy's .339. But then, consider Rollins' .538 slugging vs. Reyes' .452, and things start to swing the other way. Also, Jimmy has a full 13 more homers than Reyes, and 23 more RBIs (most of that coming from the leadoff spot). Because of Rollins' ability to take the ball out of the park, he can be put in the three hole with Chase down. What are the chances of seeing Reyes bat third?
I'm not saying Jose is a bad player, or not as good as Jimmy. They approach batting slightly differently, with Jose relying more on speed and contact and Jimmy relying more on power. What I am saying is that I am a little tired of hearing about Reyes the wonder child, when Rollins is having an equally impressive (if not moreso) season.
Also, the Phils traded for Kyle Lohse. I'm excited to hear Plumpy's Ghost weigh in on this. I hope you are, too.
