Second Chance for Local Ballplayer Comes Close to Home

Kipp Rollings felt the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic as much as any baseball player. With no Minor League Baseball last year for the first time in decades, no players were able to work on their craft and advance in a game-situation. As a 24-year-old at the time, those are valuable months that were wasted for the Kershaw-native.

The Seattle Mariners drafted Rollings in the 24th round of the 2019 draft out of North Greenville Community College. He spent two seasons in North Greenville after starting out his undergrad at the University of South Carolina Lancaster. He played one season for the Everett AquaSox in the Northwest League, recording a 4.85 ERA in 20 games from the pen before getting released in May 2020.

If there’s one thing that remains true about the righty, it’s that he’s a silent killer. Rollings will outwork everyone on the field until he gets the chance to prove what he can do, and that’s what he had to do to rejoin the ranks of Minor League Baseball.

His first chance after Everett came with the Nerds Herd during what would have been the 2020 Minor League season. The South Carolinian played in 16 games, working 19 innings and earning a 2.84 ERA. The performance earned a chance to move from the City of Champions Cup to the esteemed Frontier League to start the 2021 season. It didn’t take long with the Joliet Slammers for Rollings’ name to reach some Major League front offices. Rollings only pitched in five games, two of which were starts before the Royals ended up purchasing his contract from Joliet.

While there, Rollings noted that it was a tough position, “When you play independent ball, you’re kind of on your own, so you either figure it out and move on or you don’t figure it out and you end up staying there.” Rollings was able to get back into a routine and do what he does best, attack hitters.

“I knew I was throwing well enough to end up in affiliated ball. This kind of stuff just takes time. I needed to get my stuff in front of the right eyes and take the time to get an opportunity.” Rollings said. It may not sound smooth on paper, but that’s the type of player Rollings is. An ultra-competitor, Rollings thrives off of attacking hitters. He’s going to find the strike zone and throw at batters. You won’t earn a free pass off Rollings, rather, you’ll have to hit his best stuff to get aboard.

“It’s cool to have my friends and my family able to check things out and see what it’s like. I have to say, it’s been a good experience.” Rollings reiterates. “The game has taken me to so many wonderful places, and the highlight for me is that I get to keep playing it. Now I get to keep playing it and I get to do so in front of my family and friends.”

His career didn’t start too far from Segra Park. Lancaster, South Carolina is about an hour North of Columbia. There, he was able to start under the tutelage of head coach Steve Williams. Williams remembers Rollings as a quiet leader with a lot of fight in him. What allowed Rollings to take the next step was developing his slider, that he actually learned from a teammate.

Williams is a big supporter of guys trying different grips while warming up and Rollings changing the grip on the slider and trying new things eventually led to him developing a long run to the ball that played enough to get him to affiliated ball.

Williams' big memory of Kipp was during the last game of the spring when the Lancers were in a tournament. The Lancers lost by one after a wonderful outing from Rollings and when the righty left the mound he said, “My fault coach. I’m sorry.” Then Williams told him, “Don’t apologize for anything you’ve ever done to try to help this team.”

While Rollings tenure with the Fireflies didn’t last long, he was placed on the voluntarily retired list after just seven relief appearances, you know one thing is true, he is going to work and compete to get another chance with another organization.

“If you ask him what the best four-letter word in the English language is, he’ll tell you it’s work W-O-R-K.” Williams says.