Rolen's revival fueling MVP talks, red-hot Reds
CINCINNATI -- Scott Rolen lifts his arms high up over his head. See? This is how it once was. Before the three surgeries on his left shoulder. Before he lost his full range of motion. Before he was 35 and wondered whether his best days were in his rear-view mirror.
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| Scott Rolen has more home runs (14) in 59 games this season than he did in each of the past three seasons. (AP) |
He's had to adjust his batting stance. He's had to think about a lot of things. And three years after his last surgery, the five-time All-Star finally has figured out which adjustments were worth keeping and which needed shelving.
Has he ever.
"He's doing right now what I always remember him doing when I had to face him," Reds starter Bronson Arroyo says. "It's fun to have that on your side. He's a guy who changes the way guys are pitched to, and he always seems to be in the on-deck circle when it's crunch time. Kind of like Albert [Pujols]. He always seems to be batting, or on the way."
With these arms, Rolen this year is recapturing the glory of his past.
With these arms, he has helped lift the Reds into first place this late in the season for the first time since June 17, 2002.
"Since we put him in the cleanup spot, with Brandon Phillips in the two-hole and Orlando Cabrera leadoff, it's made our lineup stronger and deeper," Reds general manager Walt Jocketty says. "He's a proven run producer."
His .311 batting average heading into Wednesday night's game with the Dodgers ranked sixth in the NL. His 14 homers were tied for fifth and his 45 RBI were tied for eighth. He keeps producing and the Reds keep winning, at year's end, Rolen is going to find himself in the middle of Most Valuable Player discussions.
"Hmph," scoffs Rolen, who has only finished in the MVP top 10 once (fourth, in 2004) in his 14-year career. "That means we just discussed it ... right?"
His wit is dry as the desert sand, his contentment deeper than the Ohio River. A native of Jasper, Ind., Rolen was thrilled with the trade that brought him, his wife, their two children (ages 5 and 2) and the dogs home (well, close) from Toronto last July 31.
Better yet has been the progress he's made in understanding his chronically cranky left shoulder.
Saddled with another disabled-list stint in 2008, Rolen worked his way back in Florida with Hap Hudson, his longtime rehab guru who currently is the rehabilitation coordinator with the Blue Jays.
"You have strength and you have the ability," Hudson told Rolen. "Let's find a way."
So they began the heavy lifting. So to speak.
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Scott Miller"You can't do it like you did in '98 [.290, 31 homers, 110 RBI for Philadelphia]," Hudson told him. "And you can't do it like you did in '04 [.314, 34 homers, 124 RBI for St. Louis].
"Not like that."
They hatched a plan that was a concession to the limited range of motion in his left shoulder, but not an outright surrender to the surgeon's scalpel and Father Time.
In his stance, Rolen moved his hands closer to his shoulders. And he moved them down.
Point was, this would take the stress off his shoulder.
But during the break-in period, it sure didn't remove the stress from his mind.
"It wasn't easy," he says. "I stuck with it, but I took my lumps. At the first sign of struggle, I wanted to go back."
But he knew. The old way was the road to ruin. As he says, it was live or die, and he already had "died" with the old way.
Pieces of his old stroke would appear, but not the entire package. In '08, his first season in Toronto, he hit only .262 with 11 homers and 50 RBI. In 88 games before the trade in '09, he batted .320 ... but socked only eight homers.
Long a work in progress, Rolen finally has reached the point with his arms at the plate where "I feel like I'm comfortable with where I am." The numbers back him up: In 59 games this season, he's already exceeded his home run total from each of the past three seasons, 14 being the most he's slugged since he had 22 in '06. Yes, he's playing in a hitter-friendly ballpark in Cincinnati, but it's not just that. He's thumped as many homers on the road (7) as at home (7).
"You couldn't make me put my hands above my head now," he says. "Because I know it doesn't work, and I know I'd be back on the DL."
Fighting for the NL Central lead with St. Louis, that's the last place the Reds need to see Rolen. As Cabrera says, they've got a great thing going right now, but they need to avoid major injuries.
Plus, on the field, Rolen can continue to help young teammates like Jay Bruce, Phillips, Joey Votto and Drew Stubbs develop, give them someone to lean on. Which was all part of Jocketty's intent when he acquired Rolen from the Jays.
"I thought he would be a good influence with his work habits," Jocketty says. "The way he goes about playing the game, he's a true professional in every sense of the word."
So far, but for a more dependable bullpen in Cincinnati, the plan could not be working better. The Reds are 59-35 with him in the lineup since '09. Through midweek, they had spent 26 of the past 31 days either alone in or tied for first place.
As their 2010 personality has developed, the Reds have evolved into one of the most exciting teams in the game: They lead the majors with 22 comeback wins, and their 12 last at-bat victories is tied with Atlanta for most in the majors.
"We're going to stick around," Cabrera vows. "We've got a lot of depth. We've got great individuals. Jonny Gomes [.296, nine homers, 47 RBI] has been unbelievable. He's getting an opportunity to play every day and making the best of it."
He's not alone. The Reds lead the NL in runs scored. They lead the majors in batting average with runners in scoring position.
Funny thing. As Rolen has lowered his arms, a very talented team has raised theirs.
"To have the year we're having so far, vs. the other four years that I've been here, it's a world of difference," Arroyo says. "The opportunity to feel, when you're down 3-0, that there's some fight left in us. ...
"In years past, we had no shot when we were down three or four runs. It was over. Now, with our lineup, one through eight, it's a good feeling pitching when you give up two runs early and you know that if you hold them we can come back.
"It's been fun so far, and it's getting more fun."
