Atlanta Braves: Top 5 Greatest Sluggers in Franchise History
By Seth Carter
4. Chipper Jones (1999)
Chipper Jones’ MVP season of 1999 placed him as the third-highest player on the list but was good for the fourth-best season, as two Hank Aaron’s stand in front of him in line. Chipper had a pinnacle season, smashing 45 homers, 41 doubles, 110 RBI, and drawing 126 walks. On top of that, he managed to swipe 25 bags while only getting caught three times. In the end, he hit .319 with a .441 OBP, and a .633 slugging percentage.
Interestingly enough, this MVP season of 1999 was not one of the seven campaigns in which Chipper represented the Braves in the All-Star game. The National League’s starting third basemen was Matt Williams of the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Chipper currently holds three of the top-12 slugging seasons in Braves’ history. In 2001 he slugged .605 in 159 games and in 2007 he slugged .604 in 134 games. Those seasons still stand as the 11th and 12th best slugging seasons in the Braves’ record books.
Chipper’s career .529 slugging percentage currently stands as the 50th best of all time. He slugged over .600 in three different seasons.
- 1999: .633 (age 27)
- 2001: .604 (age 29)
- 2007: .605 (age 35)
Among switch hitters, Chipper’s 1,623 RBI are good for second-most all time, which is still 674 less than Hank Aaron’s career total. To put that in perspective, Buster Posey currently sits on 673 career RBI. So, despite having the second-most runs batted in in the history of switch hitters, Chipper is still a full Buster Posey career away from Hank Aaron’s total.
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