Atlanta Braves Hall of Famer Andruw Jones is highly regarded as one of the best defensive outfielders to ever play the game. However, the latter half of his career's less than great numbers has kept him out of Cooperstown for a while now.
It's hard to argue against his worthiness of being inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame. Jones has a career line of .254/.337/.486 with 434 HR, 1,289 RBI, a 111 wRC+, and a 67.0 WAR. He is a 10-time gold glover and his 24.4 defensive WAR is the highest among all MLB outfielders.
Jones was inducted into the Latin Baseball Hall of Fame last month alongside Felix Hernandez, Alex Rodriguez, Alfonso Soriano, and Johan Santana. The credentials are all there for the former Braves outfielder to land in the MLB Hall, but the delay stems from his drop in production once he left the Braves in 2008. During the final five seasons of his career, Jones had a .210 average with 66 HR, 172 RBI, and a 95 wRC+.
Happy Birthday to #Braves Hall of Famer Andruw Jones! 🎉🎉 pic.twitter.com/MQKvK6UQ96
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) April 23, 2018
Andruw Jones' Hall of Fame chances are going up as more Cooperstown voters swing his way
Jones received 7.3% of the vote from the BWAA during his first year on the ballot in 2018. The vote totals have increased every year since -- 7.5% in 2019, 19.4% in 2020, 33.9% in 2021, 41.4% in 2022, 58.1% in 2023, and 61.6% in 2024.
That is encouraging to see his chances go up every year despite the fact that he probably deserved to be inducted already. However, the latest update by Ryan Thibodaux and his team at bbhoftracker.com shows Jones has earned 72% of the vote with 112 ballots cast so far.
This percentage is based on 30.4% of the ballots known and only 75% of the vote is needed to be elected. Jones is on the cusp of finally being given the recognition he rightly deserves. As Sarah Langs of MLB.com points out, "Put simply, every other outfielder with Jones’ level of defensive prowess, and every defender on his level to also slug as much as he did, is in the Hall of Fame."
This list includes players like Ken Griffey Jr and Al Kaline who were both first-ballot Hall of Famers. There's no doubt Andruw deserves to be enshrined amongst baseball's best and it seems the voters may finally give that to him.