Atlanta Braves: All-time WAR leaders

Atlanta Braves all-time WAR leaders #9: Andruw Jones (OF)

• 64.3 WAR
• 1,761 games played
• 1996-2007

A player that, to this day, is the best defensive player to ever wear an Atlanta Braves uniform, Andruw Jones got started as a star at a young age. Making his mark in the majors as a 19-year-old and playing 12 seasons with Atlanta at an All-Star level, Jones will always be remembered for his crazy catches and skills in center field.

The Accolades

Andruw Jones played in five All-Star games and received 10 Gold Glove Awards for his superior defense. Jones also won a Silver Slugger Award and a Major League Player of the Year award.

The accolades don’t do Jones’ career justice, as he specialized in an aspect of the game that has yet to be properly noticed. He is currently on the Hall of Fame ballot, where the lack of love for his D is even more apparent… and of the players in this list, the only one not yet enshrined.

Jones hit 434 career home runs and almost 2,000 hits. The only stat category that could arguably cause an anti-Hall discussion is Andruw Jones’ career batting average of .254.

Even with his low-ish batting-average, the fact remains that there are far less-qualified players in the Hall of Fame at the moment than Andruw Jones, particularly since his defense alone should be sufficient to merit inclusion.

The Player

The Curacao-born 19-year-old made his MLB debut in August of 1996. His short stint in the Majors that first year would only feature 31 games for Andruw Jones, but his advanced ability to hit was made known quickly. In just 113 plate-appearances for Jones, he would hit five home runs and seven doubles.

The 1996 regular season for Andruw Jones may not have been all that notable, but the 1996 Postseason was a different story for the teenage outfielder.

In the seventh game of the NLCS, the Braves were matched up against the St. Louis Cardinals. The series was tied up at three games apiece. The Braves would end up throttling the Cards in that final game of the series (15-0), but the significance of that game came from the 19-year-old Andruw Jones.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, with the Braves already up big, the young Andruw Jones would come up to the plate and drive a two-run homer off of pitcher Mark Petkovsek. Fulton-County Stadium went nuts, as a young superstar was born.

As we all know, that wasn’t it for the teenage Andruw Jones. In that same 1996 Postseason, with the Braves now in the World Series facing the New York Yankees, Jones would hit home runs in his first two at-bats, becoming the youngest Major League player to ever hit two homers in a World Series.

When he finally got to experience his first full season in the show in 1997, Jones would play 153 games and hit 18 home runs with 20 stolen bases. On defense, Jones would bounce around all over the outfield, but it was obvious that he was a skillful defender. Jones would finish 5th in the National League Rookie of the Year vote that season.

The numbers are magnificent for Andruw Jones when looking at his tenure as an Atlanta Brave. From 1997 (his first full season) to 2007, Jones would go on a run of pure excellence, not just as a hitter, but as a defender as well.

During that 11-year span, Jones would literally win all of his awards as a Major League player. Just look at his stats and seasonal averages for that span:

Andruw Jones (1997-2007) 

• 1,730 games (157 games per season)
• .263/.343/.498
• .841 OPS
• 363 HR (33 homers per season)
• 1,104 RBI (100 RBI per season)
• 135 SB (12 stolen-bases per season)

Many of us remember Andruw Jones because of his outstanding skills on defense, but he was also a huge bat in the lineup for over a decade. The fact that he was able to contribute to the success of the Braves at such a young age is what makes his career so special.

Best Season:

2005 (7.9 fWAR)

• 160 games
• .263 BA
• 51 HR
• 128 RBI
• 134 wRC+

As a 28-year-old player in his prime for the Atlanta Braves, Andruw Jones would lead the Majors in home runs and the National League in RBI in 2005, with 51 and 128 respectively. His .575 slugging-percentage and 134 wRC+ would also be a career-high for Jones.

Led by Bobby Cox, the Braves would finish the 2005 season with a 90-72 record and the division title but would fall to the Houston Astros in the NL Division Series in four games.

That season the pitching staff would be led by 14-game winners John Smoltz and Tim Hudson, followed by Andruw Jones, Chipper Jones, and Adam LaRoche leading the offense.

Andruw Jones’ 51 homers that season were more than what Chipper Jones (21) and Adam LaRoche (20) would finish with combined in 2005 – the second- and third-place home run hitters on the team.

Unfortunately, Andruw Jones would only play two more seasons for the Braves, and sadly once Jones got into his 30s, his performance suffered drastically. After Jones left for the Dodgers in 2008, the former Brave would finish out the string of his career bouncing between the Dodgers (one season), the Texas Rangers (one season), the Chicago White Sox (one season), and the New York Yankees (two seasons).

Those last five seasons of his career, Jones would only average 87 games per season, 13 home runs and a .210 batting average. The conclusion of his 17-year MLB career may be what is holding back a few of the Hall of Fame voters, but Andruw Jones had a 12-year run that outpaces many players currently enshrined into the prestigious fraternity.