Andruw Jones: making a name for himself with the Atlanta Braves: center fielder helped Atlanta position itself in another run at a N.L. Eastern Division title

Baseball Digest, Oct, 2005 by Ray Glier

FOR THE FIRST TIME, A JONES NOT named Chipper is being embraced as the hero and leader of the Atlanta Braves.

Andruw Jones?

Strange as it might seem to those outside the clubhouse, Andruw Jones was the force and attitude behind the injury-riddled Braves staying in the National League East race earlier this season.

While franchise icon Chipper Jones remained on the disabled list, Andruw Jones stepped into one of the most serious situations the organization faced in its run of 13 division titles--and steadied it.

The 28-year old center fielder was tied for the major league lead in homers with 32 through games of July 31 while batting .274 and ranking fourth in the N.L. with 79 RBI. During the 37 games Chipper Jones missed while on the disabled list from June 6 through July 17 with a foot injury, Andruw hit .311 with 15 home runs and 37 RBI.

Jones as the Braves leader is a surprising development because he has been viewed as a player who has not quite reached his potential and plays too relaxed for the hardcore baseball fan.

More than once, Braves fans have called into radio talk shows in town and ridiculed Jones for his smirk, that toothy grin he flashes after he has chased a bad pitch while striking out.

"Look at him smiling at striking out. He doesn't care."

Jones rolls his eyes when asked to talk about his image. It has been nine seasons since he burst into the Major Leagues with two home runs in Game 1 of the 1996 World Series in Yankee Stadium--the youngest player to homer in a World Series game at 19 years, five months. He is still fighting the image that he is a carefree island boy from Curacao.

"Maybe it's the way I catch the ball, maybe it's the way I run after the ball, maybe the way I run the bases," he said. "It's always something. I don't disrespect the game. I play hurt; I'm in the lineup."

Then he shows that smirk. "I'm trying," said Jones.

IMAGE MAKEOVER

It is the smirk and the pedestrian .268 career average that have led to Jones being dogged as an underachiever and a player who doesn't care enough. The seven consecutive Gold Glove awards never seemed to be enough to win the same legion of fans who adore Chipper Jones. But his image is being remade. His hot streak during the summer (including 20 homers and 47 RBI during a 41 game stretch from June 10 through July 26) won converts as the Braves dealt with injuries to Chipper Jones, pitchers Mike Hampton and John Thomson and a shrinking payroll that led the team to play nine rookies this season.

Last year, with Chipper Jones, J.D. Drew and Marcus Giles in and out of the lineup because of injuries, he struggled at the plate by his standards. He hit 29 home runs and had 91 runs batted in, but those were his lowest totals in those categories since 1999, when he had 26 homers and 84 RBI. In addition, he batted .261--the third-worst of his career for a full major league season--and he set a club record with 147 strikeouts.

"I already know what can happen if I try to do too much," he says. "I'm not Superman."

Early in his career, Jones looked like the last player the organization could turn to when they needed a hero.

In a July game in 1998 in Turner Field, Jones trotted less than full speed after a ball hit to center field. An enraged manager Bobby Cox pulled Jones off the field in the middle of the inning as the crowd booed.

"It only happened once," said veteran Braves pitcher John Smoltz, "but it stigmatized Andruw."

Jones was then caught up in the Gold Club scandal in 2001, when athletes were paraded in public by prosecutors chasing organized crime figures at the Atlanta sex club. Jones, then a regular customer at the club, testified about receiving sexual favors from the club's dancers at a private party away from the club, although he was never charged with a crime. But now his teammates and club officials describe Jones as a devout family man with a young child.

It has been harder to erase the pressure of expectations on the field, such as being cast as the next Willie Mays. Even worse, said Smoltz, is the ridicule from fans who feel Jones is not an eager player.

"It looks like he doesn't care when he has that smirk, but he does care," said Smoltz, the last surviving Brave from 1991, when the run of 13 division rifles started. "That little grin is more, 'I can't believe he got me out with that pitch.' If he doesn't catch a ball in the outfield, the grin is like, 'I do not believe I didn't get that ball.'

"I'm telling you, he cares," Smoltz said. "You can't look at the number of games he's played, the number of times he's gone out there hurt and say he doesn't care."

Jones has missed 26 games the last six seasons, despite injuries to both shoulders and his lower back, a result of diving for balls. Since his first full season in 1997, he leads center fielders in putouts and assists.

INCONSISTENT AT THE PLATE

Offensively, the Braves would still like more consistency from Jones. He is fourth on the Braves' all-time hit list, but he is streaky at the plate. Jones started the season hitting .175 in his first 15 games, then hit .367 from April 22 to May 20, before a .134 slump over his next 18 games. Then, he went on another roll, which was well-timed with so many Braves injured and the team in a fight for its 14th division title in a row. "They use to throw a lot of balls to get him out, but now that he is swinging at strikes, they can't get him out," said Terry Pendleton, the Braves hitting coach. "He's doing what he is capable of doing."