The Tomahawk Times - An Andruw Jones Retrospective
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by Davis21wylie
Hi, folks, and welcome to the inaugural edition of the ArmchairGM Atlanta Braves Beat, where I'll bring you the inside scoop on everything Braves-related, including game recaps during the season and player-personnel rumblings in the offseason. So while you may not get to watch all of the team's games on national TV anymore, you can stop in at ArmchairGM and get your Braves fix twice a week, and you won't even have to put up with Skip Caray. That's gotta be worth something, right? Right. So, let's get down to business...
News & Notes:
- About a week and a half ago, the huge news here in Atlanta was that John Schuerholz, arguably one of the best executives in the history of baseball, was stepping down as Braves GM in favor of Frank Wren. Schuerholz will stay on as team president, but Wren now has the final word on any player personnel and baseball ops decisions.
For my next article, I'll talk a little about Wren and how this move affects the Braves' offseason plans, but first I wanted to write about a player that we know will be leaving Atlanta during the winter -- Andruw Jones.
Born on the tiny island of Curaçao, Andruw joined the Braves organization as a free agent in 1993 at the age of 16. Just three years later, Jones was already being called 'the next Ken Griffey Jr.," for his tantalizing mix of power, speed, and defense. After Jones was named Baseball America's Minor League Player of the Year in back-to-back years (1995 & 1996), Atlanta promoted the 19-year-old to the big club on August 15, 1996. Initially playing in right field (Marquis Grissom had CF locked up), Andruw hit .217 in a 31-game cup o' coffee in 1996, but showed flashes of the defense and power potential that he would become known for later in his career.
And, of course, everyone remembers his performance in Game 1 of the 1996 World Series, when Jones blasted two home runs in his first two at-bats of the Braves' 12-1 victory. With the 2 HR, Jones became the youngest player ever to homer in the World Series, breaking Mickey Mantle's record (on Mantle's birthday, no less).
After spending 1997 in RF (this time with Kenny Lofton in CF for Atlanta), Jones moved to center field permanently starting in 1998. And it wouldn't be long before Andruw became a near-ubiquitous presence on SportsCenter for his seemingly-endless supply of acrobatic catches... Like these:
By the time Jones garnered his first All-Star nod in 2000, some people were already calling him one of the greatest defensive outfielders of all time, and for his defensive brilliance Andruw was awarded the NL Outfield Gold Glove every year from 1998 to 2006. Not only had Jones lived up to his "next Griffey" billing in the field, he had in many ways surpassed Griffey with his glove -- while Griffey won 10 straight AL Gold Gloves from 1990-1999, there is plenty of statistical evidence that Andruw was every bit as good defensively as Junior (if not better) during his run:
But while Andruw's defense had managed to exceed the expectations placed on him as a teenager, his offense was still lagging behind. Jones showed good speed/baserunning instincts out of the gate, and his power emerged early, contrary to that old scouting axiom that power is the last tool to arrive -- he drilled 31 HR with a .515 SLG in 1998 (at age 21), had 4 straight 30-HR/90-RBI seasons from 2000-2003, and blasted a prodigious 51 & 41 HR in 2005 & 2006 -- but the holes in his offensive game were numerous. Despite drawing 56 walks in 467 PA as a 20-year-old in 1997, Jones' plate patience never progressed much further than that, and his knowledge of the strike zone and pitch recognition have always been weaknesses (as evidenced by his tendency to chase breaking balls out of the zone).
His bat control and ability to make contact -- two skills necessary to maintain a high batting average -- have only marginally improved since he was 21 years old, so it's no surprise that Jones has hit better than .300 just once in his career (2000, when he hit .303). And, for all of the Braves' success during Andruw's career (17 playoff series), Jones has been a particularly inconsistent postseason performer, mixing outstanding series (the aforementioned 1996 WS, plus the 2001, 2004, and 2005 NLDS) with incredibly disappointing ones (2003 NLDS, 2001 NLCS, 1999 WS, 1998 NLCS). All told, Jones' bat has not lived up to the "next Griffey" hype that preceded his arrival in the big leagues a decade ago, and it certainly doesn't warrant the "7-year $140 million" contract that Scott Boras is reportedly seeking this winter.
Still, Jones will be missed by Atlanta. A 5-time All-Star, Jones was one of the most popular Braves; along with Chipper Jones and John Smoltz, Andruw has served as the face of the Braves franchise for the past 11 years, and was one of the last remaining links to the Braves dynasty of the 1990's. His defense saved countless runs for Atlanta's pitchers, and his power made him a feared presence in the middle of the Braves' lineup, even if he never became truly Griffey-like with the lumber. Given the comparisons he drew as a youngster, it may or may not be fair to classify Jones' stay in Atlanta as a disappointment, but it will definitely feel strange when the 2008 Braves take the field and Andruw Jones is not among them.
Next Time: I take a look at Frank Wren, and what Braves fans can expect from him as their new GM.
