When looking at Jimmy Rollins production this year, outside of an eye sore of a batting average fantasy owners have to be pleased with the production they have received so far. As a leadoff or number two batter he has 46 RBI which is very high for that spot in the batting order. He is also producing in other categories with 13 homeruns, 19 steals, and 53 runs scored.
However, I would not look for this production to continue. Rollins never known as a guy to take the base on balls is walking at a career rate this year at 10.6 percent, and this new found patience is helping provide a little boost to his counting stats. This isn’t likely to continue though Rollins is a free swinger and this new patient Rollins is likely more of a first half aberration than something to continue looking forward too.
At 35 years old, he is getting his fair share of luck this season. Rollins currently has the second worst line drive percentage of his career but has a homerun to fly ball percentage well above his career average of 7.8 percent. That mark is very likely to decrease in the second half which is going to hurt his RBI totals as well as obviously his homeruns which is at a solid number for a middle infielder. Once that homerun to flyable percentage drops Rollins is going to have a tough time coming by RBI with such a low line drive percentage. When you aren’t hitting line drives you aren’t making solid contact which is going to make it difficult to move guys around and drive them in. This also means that his awfully low batting average probably is going to stay around the .235 mark where it currently sits.
Besides the advanced metrics pointing towards a decrease in production for Rollins you also have to take into account that he is producing at above career averages for one of the worst offenses in baseball this year. The Phillies have the sixth fewest runs scored in baseball. Generally as a rule of thumb when a team as a whole can’t score runs you don’t generally get a ton of runs or RBI out of any one player unless he’s a superstar. At this point in his career Rollins certainly doesn’t qualify as a superstar anymore.
If you are a fantasy owner with Rollins on your team I would try to trade him now and see what you can get out of him. As long you are sending him to a team with high batting average players they should be able to swallow the low average that Rollins is going to continue to hit for. His value will likely never be higher as he is still on base for a 20/20 season and is scoring and driving in runs with the top middle infielders in the game right now.