Scott Rolen's History Against The Mets

Photo Credit: Jason Bridge of USA Today

This week, third baseman Scott Rolen was voted in by the BBWAA as the latest member of the Hall of Fame. Rolen is a player Mets fans are very familiar with as he began his career with the Philadelphia Phillies from 1996-2002.

Over the course of his career, Rolen was one of the more underrated Mets killers. In 106 career games against New York, the eight-time Gold Glove winner had a slash line of .313/.413/.555 with 20 home runs and 67 RBIs. The 20 home runs was the fifth most that Rolen hit against any team and the second most in terms of NL East opponents (21 against the Braves). Out of those 20 home runs, 10 of them were hit at Shea Stadium.

In terms of hits, Rolen had 119 (second most against NL East teams – 132 against the Braves). Some other fun facts are that Rolen had as many RBIs at Shea (47 games) than he did in 40 games at Coors Field against Colorado (25), and he had 47 strikeouts at Shea (seventh most in any ballpark).

Rolen is an integral part of Mets history to a degree because he could be an answer at your local trivia event to the question: Who was the batter that hit the ball that Endy Chavez made a miraculous catch against in Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS?

During that game, Rolen ended up having the last laugh as he hit a 1-out single in the top of the 9^th against Aaron Heilman. The next batter, Yadier Molina, would hit the go-ahead two-run home run and as they say…the rest is history. The Mets held Rolen somewhat in check during that series besides the single (5-for-21, 3 walks).

Four years earlier, Rolen was traded from the Phillies to the Cardinals at the trade deadline. The Mets would play a part of more history for Rolen in August when he hit his first home run as a Cardinal against Pedro Astacio on Sunday Night Baseball.

When Rolen faced the Mets, he had the most success against Al Leiter in terms of hits. He was 11-for-38 (.290) with four doubles and he drew 11 walks. However, Leiter did a good job of keeping him from hitting the ball out of the ballpark (no home runs). That couldn’t be said for Mike Hampton (3-for-9, 2 home runs) or John Franco (2-for-7, 2 home runs). These numbers are courtesy of UltimateMets.com.

If you want to look at Rolen’s best year against the Mets, that came in 2001 when he played all 19 games and hit .329 with 6 doubles, 3 home run, and 12 RBIs. In an extra-inning win on August 28, 2001, Rolen hit a go-ahead, two-run home run in the top of the 11^th against Donne Wall at Shea Stadium.

With the new era of balanced schedules, the list of “Met killers” can continue to grow and not just be limited to the likes of Chipper Jones, Pat Burrell, Daniel Murphy, etc. Even though Rolen only spent seven seasons in the NL East, the Mets still ended up being an interesting part of his Hall Of Fame career.