Andruw Jones is Underrated, Yet Disappointing

By the time Andruw Jones ends his career, he'll most likely have over 2000 hits, just shy of 500 home runs, 10 Gold Gloves, five all-sStar appearances, and 10 years of playoff experience.

Is he a Hall of Famer? No. I don't have any delusions about that. Jones would have to get back to being an everyday player for another four or five years to put the Hall of Fame within reach. But Jones deserves far more credit as a great baseball player than most are willing to give him and statistically, he's a lot closer to the Hall than you might think.

In 1996 at the age of 19, Jones came onto the scene in a blaze. In 14 games of postseason play with the Atlanta Braves, he batted .345, hit 3 home runs, 9 RBI, and looked to be a young man ready to continue the winning ways of the Atlanta Braves. He also had 8 strikeouts in those playoffs.

Okay, so he was perhaps strikeout prone, but he was 19, he could learn. Jim Thome was strikeout-prone and he just hit home run number 600. So was Reggie Jackson, Mr. October. After the 1996 season, Mr. October, Jr. looked to be a solid nickname for Jones. What happened?

After 12 seasons in Atlanta, Jones had a lot of ups and downs. Strikeouts were certainly a factor. Jones had 100 strikeouts or more in every season with the Braves after that honeymoon playoff run in 1996.

He had some weight issues. He could have been a solid base stealer for a lot of years, but he put on over 30 pounds in the first five years in the major leagues. He still had the power, but he didn't seem to be the 19-year old clutch player the Braves were hoping to see more of.

Jones had some good years, even some great years. In 2000, he hit .303, 36 home runs, 104 RBI, and scored 122 runs. He finished eighth in the MVP voting in an extremely strong year for hitters.

In 2005, Jones had his best year, hitting 51 home runs and 128 RBI. He batted a weak .263 and lost in the MVP voting to Albert Pujols. A betting man or woman may have put some money on Jones to be the MVP in the next three seasons. There wouldn't have been a faster way to lose one's money.

In 2006, he had a similar year as 2005, only with 10 less home runs. In 2007, Jones struggled. Big time. He batted just .222, hitting only 26 home runs, just over half of what he had hit two years previous and only managed 94 RBI. The idea that he would be considered for MVP in 2007 was laughable.

Then, the deathblow. The Braves announced they would not be resigning Jones. After his worst season, at age 30, Jones was at the mercy of the free agent market. He still hadn't lost his Gold Glove, but the market had another Gold Glove center fielder available that offseason in Torii Hunter. They both ended up with L.A. teams. Hunter to the Angels, Jones to the Dodgers.

Jones' two-year, $36 million dollar contract surprised a lot of people. He didn't live up to it. Not even close. He showed up out of shape. He hit under .200. He landed on the DL for the first time in his career and he was benched. In 75 games, he batted .158 with 3 home runs and 14 RBI. Jones was so bad that he was not even placed on the playoff roster for the Dodgers. He didn't sit in the dugout. He didn't do anything with them. He flat-out sucked. Jones going to the Dodgers was perhaps the worst move to happen to a player in the last decade. Jones completely lost who he was and still hasn't found it. Now who he used to be is probably gone, lost forever. Was the Braves dumping him wise? Probably. Maybe if they had been in the American League they could have let him stay on, spotting him at DH a bit or something, but Atlanta dropping Jones ruined him.

After the 2006 season, calling Jones a potential Hall of Famer would have been met with general agreement. His batting average was low, but he had hit 342 home runs in just over 10 seasons and was only 29-years-old. 500 home runs seemed more than reachable.

Here we are just five years later and after stints in L.A., Texas, Chicago and now with the New York Yankees, Jones is only up to 416 home runs. His batting average has gotten far worse and he's no longer the dependable, everyday, Gold Glove center fielder he used to be.

He's only 34-years old and he's being treated like a 40-year old. People seem to forget that Jones still has a potential to play another five years, maybe more.

So where does Jones stand in the all time arena of baseball sluggers?

With 416 home runs, he's at number 45 all-time and eighth among active leaders. The next people he'll pass on the all time list are Billy Williams (426), Mike Piazza (427), Jason Giambi (427), and Cal Ripken (431). Of those four, Williams and Ripken are Hall of Famers. Piazza will likely be one. Giambi probably won't be, but it's not an impossibility. Giambi is 40. Jones has six years to reach his age and put up half-season stats to surpass him in home runs.

If that happens, if Jones hits even 10 home runs a year for six years, it would place him around 30th all-time with names like Willie Stargell (475), Stan Musial (475), Carlos Delgado (473), Dave Winfield (465), and Jose Canseco (462). It's a lot harder to ignore those names when one speaks of the Hall of Fame. And yet Jones in the Hall seems outlandish, ridiculous, crazy.

So why is Jones not viewed in the same light as others with as many home runs as he has. Is it the strikeouts? Jones is ranked 29th all-time in strikeouts, seventh among active leaders. Is it the poor batting average? A career hitting .256 and continuing downward doesn't bode well.
While strikeouts and a mediocre average don't help a player's cause, they aren't a deterrent that breaks a player's chances. Why won't Andruw Jones reach the Hall of Fame?

Two reasons: the Braves let Jones go and the Braves lost the 1996 World Series.

Had Andruw Jones stayed in Atlanta with Chipper Jones, I think not only would have Andruw performed better, but people wouldn't look at him as a washed-up has-been. They'd see him as a second staple to the team. A veteran around whom they could depend for production and mentorship of young players.

Yes, Jones brought a good deal of this on himself by sucking in L.A. If he had played well, he may have found a home there and been over 500 home runs by now, but that ridiculous contract made fans doubt him from the get go and provided so much pressure on him that he cracked.

Now, after 12 seasons with the same team, he has played for four teams in four years and how many Hall of Famers do you know that bounced around that often from age 30 to 34? Maybe from ages 36-40. That's why Jones is considered older than he is. Teams refuse to keep him around.

The second reason I mentioned, the Braves' loss in the 1996 World Series, is a bit more subtle. Jones might have been the MVP of the series. He hit 2 home runs in his first two at-bats, but the decrescendo that followed is shocking.

Had the Braves won and Jones been crowned MVP, the bar would have been set very high, but that would have been an accomplishment for a Hall of Fame-caliber player to hang their helmet on. Instead, Jones and the Braves were ultimately a disappointment in that series as the Braves lost to the Yankees in six games and while he played well over the next decade, his best moment was so early in his career that he can hardly be viewed as anything other than a disappointment.

Had the Braves not brought him up in 1996, perhaps the expectations would have been lower and his career could be viewed more objectively, but that isn't the case.

Now in 2011, Jones plays for the Yankees, the team that denied his 19-year-old self a World Series title. The Yankees have a shot to take another trip to the World Series. Does Jones have a shot at redemption? Could a few well placed balls in the seats remind the world that this Gold Glove outfielder is not to be ignored? Could he find a home in New York for five years, resulting in more frequent playing time and a chance to take a run at 500 home runs? Don't count on any of it.

A far more likely scenario is that Jones may find a home in New York for another season, but he'll likely be shipped off to a team needing some pop from the right side (Minnesota) or a team that just likes to hit balls into the seats (Toronto). Both would be nice homes for Jones where the fans would know what to expect: a solid veteran player with a good glove that hits home runs and strikes out.

Is that type of player a Hall of Famer? No. But he is still valuable. Is the player who hit 368 home runs and won 10 Gold Gloves in 12 seasons for the Atlanta Braves a Hall of Famer? He certainly should have been.