Will Former Braves Andruw Jones Be Inducted In The Hall Of Fame In 2018

Could Former Atlanta Braves Outfielder Andruw Jones Be A Hall Of Famer In 2018?

Let’s talk about it. After the class of 2017 was announced, many were already looking ahead towards 2018 to speculate who would be next to join the party. The Atlanta Braves will be represented by TWO greats in former outfielder Andruw Jones and former third baseman Chipper Jones.

Chipper has a strong chance and is almost certain to get a ticket to Cooperstown as he has built his 19-year career with a World Series ring, 8 trips to the All-Star game, became a MVP in 1999. He earned two Silver Slugger Awards, while also holding the title for most RBI’s by a third baseman and Brave’s record for on-base percentage and more.

With that being said, Andruw Jones isn’t any less of a  baseball legend either. This Jones is a 5x All-Star, won a Silver Slugger Award, and was a National League Hank Aaron Award winner. He held the titles of most RBIs in the National League and most home-runs in all of MLB in 2005, while holding the Braves’ record of most home-runs in a single season.

If you’re still not sold, Andruw Jones also picked up 10 Gold Glove Awards and just to push the emphasis, he earned those in back-to-back seasons!

While Andruw Jones has played all around MLB and even in Japan for the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles in Japan, it’s clear that his best times were during his tenure with the Braves.

Jones signed with the franchise at the age of 16 and quickly went through the system. He debuted for the Danville Braves, playing 36 games before being promoted to the Gulf Coast League affiliate.

The following season, Jones was put in Single A (Macon Braves) playing a full season there. He ended the season with a .277/.372/.512 slash line and would become the Minor League Player of the Year.

In 1996, Jones’ minor league career would be put in full throttle as he started with a promotion to Advanced-A Durham Bulls (Carolina League), and then to AA Greenville Braves (Southern League) and finally AAA Richmond Braves (International league) before being brought up to the main roster on August 15, 1996.

Jones cracked his first major league home-run in his 2nd game for the Braves off of Denny Neagle in a 5-4 win against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Playing mostly in right field, Jones would finish the season with a .217/.265/.443 hitting 5 home-runs and 13 RBIs.

One of the many amazing things that Jones would do in his career was in his first World Series appearance in 1996. During Game 1, Jones would connect for not only one, but two home-runs in his first two at-bats; becoming the youngest player in history to hit a home-run in the World Series, at the age of 19!

On August 9, 1999, Jones made a famous catch, dubbed the “Spiderman Catch,” onto the wall to rob Astros’ Bill Spiers of what would have been an extra-base hit.

Jones would continue to be a consistent player for the Braves before breaking out in 2000 when he had a career high in batting average (.303) while also batting 36 home-runs and 104 RBIs. That season would also be the first All-Star game appearance for him, though only as a reserve.

Jones’ true breakout season was in 2005 when he essentially carried the team when Chipper Jones went down with an injury. Jones would go into his fourth All-Star Game and go on to win his eighth Gold Glove Award while becoming the leader in RBIs for the National League (128) and home-runs for all of MLB (51).  In doing this, he broke the franchise record for single-season home-runs.

He would be given the Babe Ruth Home Run Award, Hank Aaron Award and Silver Slugger Award for that season as well.  He reached the 300 home-run mark on September 14, against the Philadelphia Phillies, becoming the 12th player in history to do so before their 30th birthday.

Jones would continue to play for the Braves up until the 2008 season when the Braves decided not to bring him back. He won the Gold Glove awards for the 2006 and 2007 season and made a final All-Star Game appearance in 2006 but his offensive performance fell drastically in 2007 and never quite recovered.

Andruw would later play with the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Texas Rangers, the Chicago White Sox and the New York Yankees but none as long as with Atlanta.

Though his time with the Braves did not end on a good note, it is not to be forgotten what a star he was for the team. Jones was loved by the fans and by the clubhouse.

He was a part of the power threat that pushed the franchise into the playoffs year-after-year along with guys like Chipper and Javy Lopez while John Smoltz, Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux were the pitching threat.

He was a defensive wizard in the outfield making catches and plays that are still talked about today. The “Spiderman Catch” was even turned into a bobble-head for the final season at Turner Field.

Jones finished his MLB career with a .254 average with 434 home-runs and 1289 RBIs. Jones announced that he had officially retired in February of 2016 when it was announced that he would be inducted into the Braves Hall of Fame. Next year he will be added to the MLB Hall of Fame ballot and become eligible for the 2018 class.

Now I’m not saying that he will be inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2018 nor that the ones that will be voted to enter will be any less deserving but rather just laying out the facts and giving an argument that he is Hall of Fame worthy and at some point should be inducted.

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There’s no doubt Andruw Jones is one of the greatest outfielders to play the game, let alone one of Atlanta’s best and is definitely Hall of Fame material; but will he enter it in 2018? That will be up to the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

It goes the same for Chipper Jones but how awesome would it be for the Jones to go in together just like when Glavine, Maddux and Bobby Cox went in together. Let’s hope for that.