With a new Braves season just around the corner, I think its fitting to have a post about a subject that pops into my head from time to time. A couple of seemingly perennial questions always surround the Braves, those being what are we getting out of centerfield and 1st base this year. The question is still there at both positions, but young Freddie Freeman gives Braves fans hope that he can occupy that position competently for quite a few years. However, center field doesn't really have that ready made solution to give Braves fans hope. Ever since 2007, the Braves have had a revolving door in center, with Mark Kotsay (fragile, old), Jordan Schafer(injured), Nate McLouth (who knows), and Rick Ankiel (never could play) all trying and for the most part failing to competently man centerfield. Former All Star McLouth is showing positive signs this spring, but until we see it on the field during the season, its tough to say he inspires a whole lot of confidence in Braves fans.
Which brings me to the subject of today's post. There was a time not that long ago where Braves fans knew what they were getting in center every year. He loved chasing sliders (both the pitches and the mini-burgers), enjoyed frequenting strip clubs, struck out too much, and hit over .275 just twice in his 11 years with the Braves. All of these flaws didn't matter, the most underrated reason for the last 9 of 14 division titles was Andruw Jones.
I think a lot of Braves fans would be in agreement with me that we didn't realize just how good we had it until it was gone. Me personally, I don't think I realized it until 2 or 3 years later, since that's about how long the stench of Andruw's .222/.311/.413 stinker in 2007 took to clear the room. But then I happened upon Jones' FanGraphs page (by the way, I love FanGraphs. It's fantastic. I love it almost as much as Charlie Sheen enjoys porn. Well that might be a stretch, but its an awesome site for baseball fans). Jones in 2007, putting up the previously mentioned stinkbomb on offense while combining it with having visibly lost a step or 3 in centerfield, posted 3.8 Wins Above Replacement in 2007. Think about that for a minute. WAR is obviously not perfect, but its a pretty good tool to project how much overall impact a player has on his team. And it said that Andruw Jones, in a season he was a disaster according to most, was the 8th best centerfielder in the majors that year. Unreal.
For the most part, Andruw was an above average offensive centerfielder, and I think most people agreed with that sentiment. He struck out too much while trying to yank everything, but he did have great power combined with above average patience at the plate. He's had some off years at the plate, but his career wOBA stands at .353, which is well above the big league average. His .263/.342/.497 triple slash line with the Braves would more than satisfy most big leaguers.
But where he stands apart, which is completely obvious to anyone who's watched him, is on the defensive side. He won a gazillion Gold Gloves, but is it possible that he was underrated? From 2002-2007, Andruw had gained a little weight and, according to my eyes, looked like he had lost a step in the field. A slightly slower, slightly fatter Andruw Jones saved almost 3 times as many runs (120.4 according to FanGraphs) as the next closest center fielder in that time frame (Corey Patterson, 41.0). Indeed, Andruw had regressed, as the previous 5 years before 2002, he had saved 150 runs above what an average major league centerfielder would save. All told, it adds up to 270.4 runs saved in the field by Andruw in 11 years, or about 27 total wins. After adding in the corrector that a replacement level player would be about 20 runs worse than average over 600 plate appearances, the total tally of runs saved by Andruw over a replacement player JUST BY TAKING THE FIELD AND PLAYING DEFENSE totals 513 runs saved (270.4 fielding runs+ 242.6 replacement runs). That's over 51 wins of value (10 runs=win) from just his defense. Yo.
Leo Mazzone received tons of credit for turning some ordinary pitchers with the Braves into much better pitchers. He was deserving of much of it, especially with his emphasis on trusting the fastball, but I'd argue having Andruw Jones was his biggest advantage over other pitching coaches.
He always left us wanting more. He always looked as if he could have given more. However, lets now appreciate what he gave, which was a whole heck of a lot more than most people realize. Andruw Jones was really, really good playing for the Atlanta Braves.
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