The Atlanta Braves announced today that the club has hired former All-Star outfielder Andruw Jones as a special assistant to baseball operations. Jones will report to John Hart, president of baseball operations, and to General Manager John Coppolella.
Jones, who was named last week as a 2016 inductee into the Braves Hall of Fame, makes his return to the club in a support role. Jones has been in Major League spring training as an instructor and during the regular season he will primarily focus on assisting Braves outfielders, as well as assisting with the Braves' international initiatives.
"We are very excited to add Andruw to our staff as a special assistant," Coppolella said. "He is perhaps the most accomplished defensive outfielder in our organization's history and one of the best in baseball history. He signed at the age of 16 and was developed in this organization. He can offer a lot of experience and knowledge to our young players and we look forward to his contributions."
Jones earned 10 consecutive Gold Glove Awards from 1998 to 2007 and was a five-time National League All-Star. In 2005, he led the NL with a Braves franchise-record 51 home runs while also collecting 128 RBI to finish second in voting for the league's Most Valuable Player Award. That season he also won the Hank Aaron Award as the NL's top hitter and the Major League Player of the Year Award from Sporting News.
"I'm excited to be back with the Braves organization," Jones said. "This is where I began my career and I'm looking forward to working with the young players and watching them develop." Jones signed with the Braves in 1993 and made his Major League debut late in the 1996 season. In Game 1 of the 1996 World Series, at the age of 19, he clubbed two home runs and became the youngest player to homer in a World Series game. His last season with Atlanta was in 2007 and in 12 seasons in a Braves uniform he batted .263 with 1,683 hits, 1,045 runs, 368 home runs and 1,117 RBI in 1,761 games. Jones played the final season of a 17-year Major League career in 2012 with the New York Yankees. In 2,196 career games, he tallied 434 homers and 1,289 RBI.
Jones quickly established himself as one of the premier defensive center fielders in the game. Ten times he finished in the top three in the NL in Total Zone Runs as a center fielder, and six times he led the league. His career total of 220 Total Zone Runs as a CF rank first all time, ahead of the 176 by Hall of Famer Willie Mays, who is second.