Atlanta Braves great Andruw Jones and his chances with the 2020 Hall of Fame ballot

Face it:  some years are better than others for Hall of Fame voting.  Can we get another Atlanta Braves player going this time?

In recent years, the Atlanta Braves have gotten their best into the Hall of Fame: Chipper Jones, Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, and Bobby Cox.  That’s fantastic.

However, we’ve also seen a couple of names run through the gamut… unsuccessfully. Dale Murphy and Fred McGriff come to mind immediately.

There are several new entries on the 2020 ballot, but not too many of them scream “this guy should get in”.  Among these newbies includes a “really good” player from recent Atlanta Braves history: Tim Hudson.

Really good… but unless some crazy planetary alignment brings the writers’ pens together in a collective groundswell of purpose… neither Huddy nor these other newbies below are Hall of Famers:

Mark Buehrle, A.J. Burnett, Michael Cuddyer, Dan Haren, LaTroy Hawkins, Torii Hunter, Aramis Ramirez, Nick Swisher, Shane Victorino, and Barry Zito.

In fact, I can’t see many of these guys even making the 5% vote threshold to see a second year on the ballot.

What these names do seem to add this year is space:  more room for the writers’ to perhaps use more of their (maximum) ten votes and clear some of the other names that have been lingering around for a few years behind others that were getting more notice.

So maybe… just maybe… there might be a chance for Andruw Jones to jump up in the vote tallies this year.

• In 2018, four players made the 75% threshold:  Mariano Rivera, Edgar Martinez, Roy Halladay, and Mike Mussina.
• In 2019, Derek Jeter and Larry Walker were voted in.
• That takes 6 key names off the list.

The next three names from last year’s results are going to be a source of continued controversy for different reasons:  Curt Schilling (70%), Roger Clemens (61%), and Barry Bonds (60.7%).

All of these guys have 2 more chances on the ballot — this Winter is the first of those chances.

Beyond that, there are multiple player who need some “love” from the voters.  Among them:

• Omar Vizquel (52.6%)
• Scott Rolen (35.3%)
• Billy Wagner (31.7%)
• Gary Sheffield (30.5%)
• Todd Helton (29.2%)
• and in 13th place last year… Andruw Jones (19.4%)

Time for a Push

If any of these “also rans” are poised for a big jump… it’s Andruw.

Happily, there are others already campaigning for him:

Any time you can attach a phrase like “the only player who did _______ in baseball history” to your name, it’s a big deal.  It’s the kind of thing that puts you into that elite 1% of all pro baseball players ever… the 1% who are inducted into the Cooperstown museum.

Another tweeter (@SmallBunyanGA) noted that Andruw’s career defensive rating on fangraphs is so far out in front of everyone that it’s absurd:

• 1st all-time:  Andruw Jones at 278.8
• 2nd:  Willie Mays:  170.1  (and he played 23 seasons!)
• Every other centerfielder ever from 8th place and higher is under 100 points… and Andruw leads Mays by MORE than that.

So sure… you can feel free to beat up Andruw Jones for his “short” career (all or parts of 17 seasons).  You can also beat him up for falling off of an offensive cliff after leaving the Braves in 2006.  Be my guest (while noting that doing so also ignores nine consecutive seasons of 4.9fWAR and above).

But if you do… please tell me how you can discount — at all — his elite defensive contributions.  He’s in the “nobody will ever catch him” kind of territory.  That’s the kind of thing that makes a Hall of Famer.

UPDATE:  This makes Andruw’s case well…

Right — Vizquel is getting votes pretty much exclusively for his defense.  Andruw is all that plus adding several years of excellent offense… at a different premium position on the field.

There are some names above that deserve entry into the HOF.  Andruw Jones is certainly one of them.  So is Billy Wagner… but we’ll save that argument on Wags for another day.

There are a number of places you get go on the Internet to see the ballot for this year: here’s one of them that’s at least easy to read.  It’s time for another Atlanta Braves ‘A’ cap to get a plaque… go Andruw!