Comments on: Is Andruw Jones Overrated?

By: Derek

Derek — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 05:27:05 +0000

I just took a look at Andruw’s fielding statistics and one of the main reasons it seems that his Put-outs are lower than a few years back is that he’s had much less “total chances”. Now you can blame him for having less total chances because he can’t make the ball come to himself. The reason he’s put-outs are down is because he hasn’t had the same amount of chances to make those plays as he has had in years before. And he’s still reeling in 99% of those chances with great regularity if not more frequently compared to his “slimmer” days. Just proves Stark doesn’t know what the hell he’s talking about.

By: David

David — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 16:41:22 +0000

I’m not sure I’ve ever heard the term “overrated” and Andruw Jones in the same sentence until Stark wrote his book. A.J. is simply the a good baseball player all around.

10 errors are the most he has ever allowed in a single season, and since 2002, has allowed less than 4 a season (News Flash: Turner Field = LARGE outfield).

On the Offense side, granted he may be a little homerun hungry, but has still driven in more than 90 every season since 2000. Not to mention that 2005, 2006 he was just shy of 130. And even in the midst of a down year, he is still on pace to break 100.

And then theres a factor that can’t be placed in a statistics book: Awareness. The awareness of every batter who faces the Atlanta Braves, that center field is not a good place to hit a ball… ever. But just to add a stat, his FPCT has been in the .990′s 8 out of his 10 years past.

Stats from Yahoo

By: Steve

Steve — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 08:19:53 +0000

Stark is insane, all I have to say is that players go up and down in “stats”. And Andruw is ONLY most likely halfway done with his career. HMMM on pace for easily 550-650 homers. And he plays centerfield still. I think stark needs to tune into TBS for a braves game, where he can watch Andruw either hit a homer, make a diving catch, good route, jump on a ball (watch replays carefully) or various others. There the truth will be told.

By: Andre' Powell

Andre' Powell — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 21:22:51 +0000

I’m a 59 year-old ex-New Yorker who’s lived in the ATL since late 1971. I saw Mickey, Willie and the Duke in their primes and Andruw Jones is the best defensive CF I’ve watched on a regular basis. I’ve seen some better individual catches by Willie, Paul Blair, Otis Nixon, Gary Matthews Jr, Kid Griffey and even Endy Chavez; I’ve seen some great throws from the outfield by any number of players including the great Roberto Clemente and by Bo Jackson. As a body of work, especially in support on one of the best starting rotations in modern baseball history, Andruw’s centerfield play cannot be discounted. Baseball is a team sport played by individuals AND an individual sport played by teams. Andruw did his job defensively. They don’t just give away 9 Gold Gloves.

By: Michael Procton

Michael Procton — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 07:23:37 +0000

It strikes me, personally, that the corner OFs in the last few years are much better than in Andruw’s days of leading the known world in POs. In ’00 and ’01, his corner OFs were BJ Surhoff, Reggie Sanders, and Brian Jordan. The youngest of these guys was actually Sanders in ’00 at 32, and none of them had ever really been regarded as great defensive OFs. In the last few years, they’ve had plenty of young guys with good range. Since ’04, we’ve had a lot of plus defenders in the corner OF spots: Langerhans, JD Drew, Charles Thomas, and Francouer, who IMO is one of the best defensive RFs in the game and will eventually get a couple GGs before things are done. Andruw still makes ridiculous catches that nobody else can (see, for example, 6/9 against CHC), but his area of the field is a lot closer to the 1/3 that’s his theoretical share these days.

By: mraver

mraver — Wed, 30 May 2007 06:29:15 +0000

Nice read, JC. I think it’s fair to say that, while he’s no longer having season among the top 30 for a CF ever, AJ is still an upper-teir defender. I appreciate the commentary on ZR, as I did not realize its flaws ran so deep. (

My basic take on Andruw is that, while he wasn’t quite the Ozzie Smith of the outfield, he’s at least the Omar Vizquel.

By: Brent

Brent — Wed, 30 May 2007 04:15:29 +0000

Frank – I think your point is quite valid. Andruw has said he starts moving based on where the pitch is located. With Glavine & Maddux, he usually could rely on the location of the pitch as it left their hands. Now, with control on the decline in Atlanta, it makes perfect sense, in my opinion, for Andruw’s instincts to be suppressed as a result.

By: Frank

Frank — Tue, 29 May 2007 23:45:15 +0000

JC,,

I wonder if Andruw’s declining putouts is related to the decline in the Braves pitching. I’m not referring to a change in the share of outs attributable to ground outs, fly outs, or K’s. Instead, I’m wondering if the departure of pitchers with good control (Glavine, Maddux) has made it more difficult to position Jones and resulted in his catching fewer flies. If having Jones shade a RH batter to rightfield is dependent on having a pitcher who can hit the outside corner, then pitchers with poorer control might made such positioning less useful.

Consistent with this hypothesis is the team’s BB/IP ratio going from 499/1447 in 2001 to 572/1441 in 2006.

Just a thought–not sure it’ll hold up.

By: Brent

Brent — Tue, 29 May 2007 22:54:46 +0000

Has anyone else noticed the “underrated” list? It’s basically Placido Polanco, Kevin Youkilis, and then the 8 biggest small-market stars in the game. Stark’s inability to understand the intelligence of his audience speaks volumes about his writing ability, in my opinion. There are glaring inconsistencies (he uses money as a factor in the overrated, but not the underrated list), yawn-inspiring declarations (apparently Hanley Ramirez, Jake Peavy, and Travis Hafner are among baseball’s most underrated players – if you live in Jayson Stark’s cave), and logical issues – he’s crediting Craig Biggio for taking atbats away from Chris Burke, a better player, just so he can reach 3000 hits. All in all, one of the worst written series I’ve ever seen on ESPN, and it’s not like the Worldwide Leader has been such a shining example of journalism in recent years.

By: Brian J.

Brian J. — Tue, 29 May 2007 22:03:12 +0000

Of the players ahead of Andruw in HR, Bonds, Sosa, Griffey, ARod, Thome, Gonzalez and Piazza all have lower 2B-to-HR ratios than Andruw’s .903. The reason Andruw has the lowest number of 2B on that list is that he has the fewest AB (and HR). Also note that among the players on that list, ARod (31) and Andruw (30) are the only players under 35.

Andruw’s baserunning speed is long gone- he stole double digits for the last time in 2001; his catches are more the product of good positioning and an outstanding break. There’s also his current swing with its awkward landing, which limits his baserunning.