Atlanta Braves: why Andruw Jones is not a Hall of Famer
This is gonna hurt… former Atlanta Braves’ CF, Andruw Jones does not deserve to be in the Hall of Fame.
Last year, Andruw Jones exceeded the 5% threshold to remain on the Hall of Fame ballot in 2020. This means his career will once again be picked apart and rehashed. We will get to re-live the great years with the Atlanta Braves, the disaster in Los Angeles, and the service-able platoon years.
Andruw garnered a mere 7.5% of the vote in 2018 and the outlook is bleak for one of the game’s great defensive center fielders.
I don’t want to do this, but I’m going to run through a few (just a few) reasons why Andruw is not worthy of enshrinement in the Hall of Fame. I hope you will share your thoughts and disagreements with me in the comments.
So, let’s start with this: I love Andruw Jones. He is a Hall of Famer in my book. I was 11-years old during the 1996 World Series, I wanted to be Andruw Jones, or at least best friends.
Now that is out of the way…
When discussing Hall of Fame qualifications, something that often gets mentioned is longevity. Longevity is about more than simply compiling statistics, that is merely a by-product.
Andruw Jones signed the fifth highest contract in Major League Baseball at the time, with an average salary of $18MM with the Dodgers. Thanks to Jones’ steep decline (once he signed his big contract) the Dodgers essentially put $36 million in a barrel and lit it on fire.
Jones was only 30 years old at the time he signed his deal. The $18.1 million got the Dodgers a .156 avg with 4 HRs. Andruw’s lack of longevity served as a detriment to the team that paid him all of that money.
The Dodgers had serious buyer’s remorse and arranged for some deferred payments and a buyout. They were free of him. It was a very disappointing situation.
Jones moved on to the Rangers and spent the rest of his early to mid-thirties as a platoon player. That is not something you get to say about many Hall of Fame players.
Andruw Jones went from being known as one of the best defensive-center fielders in the game to being a below average defender by age 31. There was nothing left of the old Andruw Jones, he had simply morphed into an old Andruw Jones.
For his career, Andruw had a .254 AVG with a .337 OBP. These numbers aren’t screaming Hall of Fame. He had some good offensive seasons with a few great ones. He crept above .300 once in his career with a .303. Outside of that he never hit above .277.
Outside of the home runs, his numbers are very similar to another Hall of Famer, which we’ll look at next.
But Ozzie Smith…
Many will argue since Ozzie Smith is in the Hall of Fame for his defense then so should be Andruw.
The argument is that Ozzie Smith only made the Hall of Fame because he was a great defender while Andruw was a great defender and a good hitter. The article points out that they had similar career hitting numbers with speed going to Ozzie and power going to Andruw.
Ozzie was an 11-time gold glove winner and a 15-time All-Star with 12 consecutive selections.
Andruw was 10-time gold glover and a 5-time All-Star. The five All-Stars were indicative of the amount of great outfield talent in the league during his time.
Ozzie was a standout relative to the shortstops of his time. The game was different back then: the shortstop position was all about defense, and Ozzie was the best. He was transcendent, and it made him the face of the Cardinals’ franchise and a true superstar and face of the game.
Andruw is somewhere between Ozzie and Omar Vizquel. Additionally, there is a fair argument that Ozzie shouldn’t even be in the Hall of Fame. That is a discussion for another place…the comment section!
Andruw has a higher WAR than many Hall of Famers
Argument: There are players in the Hall of Fame with less WAR than Andruw Jones had in his career.
WAR is still relative to the time you played in due to several factors, one being informational limitations. This makes very difficult to use WAR to truly compare players from different eras.
Bill James explains:
“It is precisely the same argument; it is just using a “new” statistical category, rather than an old one. Or, to apply it to a hitter, Yogi Berra drove in 1,430 runs, Charlie Gehringer drove in 1,427 runs, Joe Cronin drove in 1,424, Jim Bottomley drove in 1,422, Robin Yount drove in 1,406 and Ed Delahanty 1,400, and all of those guys are in the Hall of Fame, so how can you say that Joe Carter shouldn’t be in the Hall of Fame when he drove in 1,445 runs, you moron, you.“
Mr. James had more to say regarding the claim that Andruw is the greatest center fielder of all time based on dWar.
“Andruw Jones’ career dWar is shown as 24.1, in 17,039 innings, whereas Willie Mays is shown at 18.1 in 24,427 innings. On a per-inning basis, Jones is being credited with saving twice as many runs as Willie Mays, compared to a replacement level center fielder. Well, I believe that Andruw Jones was a fine defensive center fielder, but I don’t necessarily believe that he was twice as good a center fielder as Willie Mays.”
Read his entire article here.
Jim Edmonds
A Braves fan will have a different perspective than what the national perception is of a player. We knew Andruw was a beast in center field and a very solid to (sometimes) great hitter in the middle of the lineup, but the rest of the country had a different view.
Andruw was merely an excellent player on a great team. When you said Atlanta Braves, most people would think about the pitching and about Chipper Jones before they could make their way to Andruw.
Now, let me ask you about Jim Edmonds. When you think Jim Edmonds, do you think Hall of Fame?
I don’t. Jim Edmonds and Andruw Jones played in the same era and were both known for incredible defense with a nice bat.
Both guys were near the 400 homer mark, but Jim Edmonds was a better hitter. Here are how their careers compared:
Years Played
- Andruw Jones 17
- Jim Edmonds 17
Batting Lines
- Andruw Jones .254/.337./.486
- Jim Edmonds .284/.376/.527
WAR
- Andruw Jones 62.8
- Jim Edmonds 60.4
Gold Gloves
- Andruw Jones 10
- Jim Edmonds 8
All-Star Selections
- Andruw Jones 5
- Jim Edmonds 4
Edmonds was a premier defender of his generation and a better hitter. He was still a very productive player into his mid-thirties. Edmonds’s age 31-35 WARS are as follows: 5.9, 6.7, 6.0, 7.2, 4.4.
Injuries derailed Edmonds’s Hall of Fame case. In Andruw’s case, he just became a terrible player at 31.
Neither one of these players are Hall of Fame worthy, so let me ask you this: Which one was the better player? Try and be objective and answer in the comments.
Forever on his way
After his first several years in the league, people had no issue saying he was on his way to the Hall of Fame. The problem? He was forever on his way – never arriving.
Next. If not Cole or Strasburg, then who?. dark
I know you are passionate about the Braves and this might even infuriate some of you. Let me know why you think I’m right, or why you think I’m wrong in the comments. Remember, we are all brothers and sisters in our love for the Braves.