Atlanta Braves top 10 franchise outfielders- number 2: Andruw Jones

In 1996, the Atlanta Braves jumped out to an early two-game lead in the World Series, thanks in part to the 19-year old rookie outfielder.

The penultimate name on the list of the Atlanta Braves Franchise’s top ten outfielders won’t surprise anyone. While with the Braves, Andruw Jones was the best centerfielder in baseball.

The Braves signed the 16-year old outfielder as an international free agent on July 1, 1993, and assigned him to Rookie ball with the GCL Braves to start the 1994 season. It took only 27 games there before he moved to Danville.

Despite being two years younger than the league-average player, Jones had no trouble handling the pitching and finished the year batting .290/.368/.412/.780 with three homers, 14 doubles, and three triples. Those numbers were enough to make him baseball’s number 21 prospect entering the 1995 season.

The Atlanta Braves bumped Jones up to A-Ball at Macon in 1995. He played at 18 that season, hit 25 home runs, drove in 100 runs, and batted .277/.372/.512/884. Jones finished the season:

• First in
  • stolen bases- 56 in 67 attempts, an 83.5% success rate,
  • runs – 104
• Second in
  • total bases – 274
  • doubles – 43
• Third in
  • homers – 25
  • hits – 146

That kind of production is more impressive when you take into account that Jones played at three years and three months younger than league average. Baseball America named him baseball’s top prospect going into 1996.

Andruw started 1996 in A+ ball, moved to AA 66 games later, and AAA after another 38 games. His production explains why promotions came quickly.

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No one was surprised when the World Series bound Atlanta Braves called him Jones up in August.

Atlanta Braves Curaçao Kid  arrives

On August 15, Jones started in right field, batting second behind center fielder Marquis Grissom and ahead of Atlanta Braves shortstop, Chipper Jones. Curt Schilling handled Andruw easily in his first three at-bats, but Jones got his first big league hit in the top of the ninth, an RBI single to right off Phillies reliever Toby Borland.

Jones split his 31 games with Atlanta flanking Grissom in either left or right field. He hit five homers, seven doubles, and a triple, but generally found Major League pitching harder to handle than any he’d faced on the minors.

He played only as a defensive replacement in the NLDS and started only two games of the NLCS, but manager Bobby Cox started him in game one of the World Series. He hit a two-run homer on the second pitch he saw off Andy Pettitte in the second inning and took Yankee reliever Brian Boehringer deep with two men on in the third.

His two-homer game made Jones the youngest player to homer in the World Series at the age of 19 years, 180 days. Coincidentally, the record’s previous owner, was Yankee legend Mickey Mantle, and Jones broke the record on Mantle’s 65th birthday.

After going hitless in games two and three, he went five for eight in the final three games and finished the series 8-20.

Atlanta loves Andruw

Baseball America kept Jones on top of their prospect list for 1997, and he broke camp with Atlanta to start the season. His World Series exploits made Andruw a household name, but his struggles at the plate made the Atlanta Braves wary of making him an everyday player.

Over the winter, the Braves traded the aging Marquis Grissom and David Justice to Cleveland for Kenny Lofton and Alan Embree. The season started with Ryan Klesko and Michael Tucker flanking Lofton in left and right.

Through the first 90 games of the season, Jones managed only 144 PA, but looked better at the plate, batting .270/.364/.434/.799 and hitting four homers.

On June 16, Jones began a streak where he started 48 of 49 games and batted .237/.337/.451/.788. He played center in 35 games in that span after a Lofton suffered a groin injury.

Jones finished the season batting .231/.329/.416/.745, and fifth in NL Rookie of the Year voting.