Atlanta Braves Should Bring Back Andruw Jones Immediately
By Jeff Schafer
When I was just a young boy in 1995, my mother and grandma took my brother and myself to a Single-A baseball game in Kannapolis, North Carolina – the Piedmont Phillies. The team they were playing just happened to be the Atlanta Braves Single-A team – the Macon Braves. Little did we know what we were watching that day.
An 18-year-old Andruw Jones was Macon’s center fielder and the star of the show. On the day we went to the game, he hit two monster home runs. I remember vividly the crowd being in shock over these bombs. After the game, I was somehow able to get Jones’s autograph on a checkbook (yes, a checkbook…I guess that was the give-a-way that day).
Heading into the 1995 season, Jones was the Braves #21 rated prospect. After that season, he jumped to #1 and flew up the Braves minor league teams in 1996…playing in A+, Double-A, Triple-A and oh yeah, the Atlanta Braves.
Jones played in the major leagues for 17 years and played for the Braves for 12 years. For two seasons, 2013 and 2014, he had played in Japan. He didn’t play in 2015 because of injuries and could be finished with baseball. The now 38-year-old recently told reporters at the Braves FanFest on Saturday “I’ll probably soon retire. I can be at home with my kid, teach him a couple of things. I haven’t announced it yet, but I probably will.”
With Jones planning on retiring from baseball, he was asked about coaching someday. It sounds like coaching is definitely in the plan.
Would the Braves think about bringing back Jones in some way?
Can you image the Atlanta Braves having Chipper Jones and Andruw Jones back in the dugout??
“I’d love to share my knowledge and experience of playing the game for a long time with some of these young kids. I would like to be part of an organization and help the up-and-coming kids, share my knowledge as a baseball player, as a defender, and as a hitter, too.”
I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be alone in saying, I really hope the Braves find a job for Andrew.