MLB: 10 Greatest Keystone Combos: How Do Phillies’ Rollins and Utley Stack Up?
February 24, 2011 by Kenny Spaulding
Filed under Fan News
Phillies fans love, love, love their middle infield—and why shouldn’t they?
Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley will play their seventh this season together this year. They are a wonderful “keystone combo,” whose combined prowess extends to the plate, the field, and their team’s collective success.
So how do they stack up against the best middle infields of all time? This is something I’ve been thinking about for quite a while, and I decided to do a little research. What I found may surprise you—it definitely surprised me.
Now, I’m not going to do a point system, but I will be using statistics to support these rankings. The lone requirement is the duo must have played together for at least four years. If the combination lasted longer, I have tried to take an accurate cross-section of their time as teammates.
I graded the pairs in these three categories: 1. Offense. 2. Defense. 3. Impact on the success of the ball club.
Obviously, all three of these categories can be somewhat subjective, but an offensive stat line will be given for each player during the selected years.
With that in mind, let’s get started!