Jimmy Rollins

James Calvin Rollins (born November 27, 1978), nicknamed "J-Roll", is an American former professional baseball shortstop, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies (2000–2014), Los Angeles Dodgers (2015), and Chicago White Sox (2016).

After growing up in Alameda, California, and attending Encinal High School, Rollins was drafted by the Phillies in the second round of the 1996 MLB draft.

In 1996, Rollins graduated from Encinal High School in Alameda.

His parents refused to let him continue playing football, instead directing him to focus on baseball.

He finished his high school baseball career as the holder of 10 school records, including highest batting average (.484), and most stolen bases (99).

For his performance, USA Today named him a member of its All-USA High School Baseball Team, and Baseball America named him the top infielder in Northern California, as well as a second-team All-American.

The American Baseball Coaches Association and Rawlings also named Rollins to their All-America Second Team.

He committed to play college baseball at Arizona State University on a scholarship, but after "effusive" praise from Phillies' Bay Area scout Bob Poole, the team drafted him in the second round of the 1996 Major League Baseball draft.

After being drafted by the Phillies in the second round of the 1996 draft, Rollins was assigned to the rookie-league Martinsville Phillies.

He led the team in walks and stole 20 bases, but batted only .238/.351/.285.

However, Rollins still earned a promotion to the low-A Piedmont Boll Weevils for the 1997 season.

Rollins was promoted to high-A Clearwater in 1998.

While playing alongside future Phillies teammates Pat Burrell, Johnny Estrada, Adam Eaton, and Brandon Duckworth, Rollins batted .244/.306/.354 with 18 doubles and 23 stolen bases; once again, he was the youngest player on the team.

Eaton, Burrell, and Rollins were all promoted to AA Reading together the next year, and Rollins led the team in games and at-bats, as well as hits.

His 145 hits gave him an average of .273, and led to a late-season promotion to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, where he played four games.

After spending most of five seasons with Phillies minor league teams, he made his big league debut on September 17, 2000.

At the major league level, Rollins quickly earned recognition as an excellent defensive shortstop.

In 2000, he led Scranton in games played, doubles, and triples, and helped lead the team to the playoffs.

Rollins received a September call-up to the Phillies.

In 2001, he became the Phillies' leadoff hitter, a role he retained for almost ten years.

Rollins made three All-Star Game appearances in his career.

While with the Phillies, he compiled a 38-game hitting streak, which spanned the end of the 2005 season and the start of the 2006 season, the longest in team history.

Rollins was named the National League (NL) Most Valuable Player (MVP) in 2007, as the Phillies won their division in the first of five consecutive seasons.

He was also a key component of the 2008 World Series champion team that defeated the Tampa Bay Rays.

In his career, Rollins led the NL four times in triples, and once each in runs, stolen bases, and stolen base percentage.

As of 2023, he is the Phillies career leader in at bats (8,628), hits (2,306), doubles (479), and power-speed number (292.5), second in games played (2,090) and stolen bases (453), and third in runs scored (1,325), triples (111), and stolen base percentage (82.66).

Rollins won the Gold Glove Award four times, as well as the Silver Slugger Award, and the Roberto Clemente Award (once each).

Rollins grew up in Alameda as a member of an athletic family.

His mother played competitive fastpitch softball, and he credits the experience with helping him develop a cerebral approach to the game, as well as a passion for the middle infield.

His father was a wrestler and weightlifter.

Rollins has been described as having "a near-photographic memory of games and at-bats and pitches".

Rollins' brother, Antwon, played with minor league affiliates of the Texas Rangers.

His sister, Shay Rollins, was a starter on the University of San Francisco's women's basketball team, and he is the cousin of former MLB player Tony Tarasco.

Despite the athletes in his family, his father encouraged Rollins to pursue music as well as baseball.

Rollins played the trumpet while growing up, and participated in various MC Hammer and Mavis Staples music videos during his adolescent years.

Rollins was an Oakland Athletics fan growing up and regularly attended games at Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum.

The youngest player on the team at age 18, he led the team in games played, at-bats, runs (94; 5th in the league), hits (151; 4th), triples (8; tied for 4th), stolen bases (46; 5th), and walks.

Rollins batted .270/.330/.370 and had 560 at-bats, over 100 more than second-place Dave Francia.

For his performance, he was named a co-winner of the Paul Owens Award, given to the Phillies' top minor league player.

At the end of the season, Rollins played in the Florida Instructional League.