Atlanta Braves: Top 10 Rookie Seasons of Past 30 Years

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ST. LOUIS – AUGUST 6: Outfielder Andruw Jones #25 of the Atlanta Braves hits a grand-slam home run against the St. Louis Cardinals on August 6, 2005 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri. The Braves defeated the Cardinals 8-1. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images) /

1997 – Andruw Jones

Andruw Jones is one of my favorite Atlanta Braves players of all-time, so I had to put him in our top 10.

After an impressive showing in the 1996 World Series, Andruw came back and had a so-so rookie season in 1997 hitting 18 home runs and driving in 70, but he hit just .231.

He finished just fifth in the NL Rookie of the Year voting that year, which was won by Scott Rolen. Livan Hernandez, Matt Morris, and Rich Loiselle all finished ahead of him.

Hall of Famer Vladimir Guerrero finished sixth behind Andruw.

AJ really took off the following season in 1998 when he hit .271 with 31 home runs while winning the first of 10 straight Gold Gloves.

As we all know, Andruw Jones belongs to be in the Hall of Fame because of his defense alone. So far he hasn’t come close to getting the required votes receiving just 7.5 percent in 2019, but hopefully, the voters will wake up soon.

While Jones’ rookie season wasn’t one of the best, all of the fans were excited to see him come to the plate, and they really began to saw just how special he was as a center fielder.

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