Chipper Jones, 3B, Atlanta Braves

July 20, 2006 @ 16:00:00

By David Wysocki
Edited by Ryan Dodson

Chipper Jones may have seen his best days, but he is making a good case to be more than recognized as one of the NL's premier sluggers in the 21st century.

The Atlanta Braves third baseman is charging into the second half of the 2006 campaign with a .334 batting average and 15 home runs. He is fresh off of tying a 27-year-old record of consecutive games with an extra base hit (14). With this surge comes the resurgence of the tomahawk chop as the Braves are quickly climbing into a Wild Card race.

The correlation of Jones' hot bat and the Braves' success further stresses Jones' importance to the organization. That is why they need him healthy.

Jones, in reality, has not really had an off year at all. The problem has been keeping him on the field.

In his 13-year career, Jones has failed to have 500 at-bats just three times: 1994 (debut season, just eight games), 2004 and 2005. His injuries, while sometimes freak, have started a trend the past two seasons that have laid a stigma over the potential Hall-of-Famer as being an injury-prone guy. In 2004 he had 472 at-bats. That number declined again in 2005 when he came up only 358 times in 77 games. Needless to say, Jones still hit 51 homers in those two seasons combined.

Jones' success is not ambiguous in origin either. The fact that Jones is also shoved in the middle of an All-Star sandwich doesn't hurt. With shortstop Edgar Renteria and center fielder Andruw Jones around Chipper in the lineup, you can only spell fear for opposing pitchers.

Renteria has had a fantastic resurgence with the Braves this season hitting .320 and has scored 65 runs: a sign that he has been on base while Chipper and Andruw Jones have been behind him.

Andruw Jones, who carried the team in 2005, now has a player the Braves really didn't have in 2005 in Chipper Jones. Playing roughly half the season, the benefits are most certainly mutual. Andruw Jones' 51-homer season came last year largely without Chipper Jones in the lineup.

Chipper, hitting .564 in the month of July, has virtually hit equally as well from both sides of the plate. He is batting .341 vs. righties and .313 against southpaws. Almost all of his homers have been against right-handers (12 of 15), however. In July, he has also slugged out seven home runs and 20-plus RBI, throwing him back into the upper echelon of big league mashers.

The 34-year-old Jones is not going away just yet. According to his numbers, he has never really left. The problem of late has been his ability to stay on the field. He has already made a short DL stint in 2006, but for one of the most reliable bats in baseball, it is well worth the risk to trade for him at this point. His value will be high no doubt, but it will only get higher as the Braves continue to produce. And with his number of injuries piling up, owners may be itchy to pull the trigger.

With the lack of depth at third base this year, Jones would be a solid addition to almost any team. Look for Jones to finish strong with around 30 homers and 120 RBI. He is well worth the risk and is in a position to carry your team to the top as well.

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David Wysocki

David has been a KFFL writer since 2005. He is a San Diego native and a History and Geography student at California State University-Chico. He has a writing background and has appeared in, and helped produce, various local newsletters and magazines on sports and music. He also pitched for the No. 2 nationally ranked Rancho Buena Vista Longhorns his senior year of high school in 2002.

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