Atlanta Braves Legend Chipper Jones Should Easily Be First Ballot Hall Of Famer In 2018

Earlier this month, the National Baseball Hall of Fame welcomed a pair of extremely deserving new members in Mike Piazza and Ken Griffey Jr. Next year, it will be interesting to see if players such as Jeff Bagwell, Tim Raines, Trevor Hoffman and Curt Schilling will be able to garner the necessary 75 percent of votes needed for induction.

The 2017 ballot also figures to feature newcomers including, but not limited to, Vladimir Guerrero, Manny Ramirez and Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez. Looking all the way ahead to the 2018 ballot, even more players with extremely impressive career numbers will be eligible to appear on the ballot for the first time. One of those is Chipper Jones.

During a 19-year MLB career which was spent entirely with the Atlanta Braves, Jones racked up 2,726 career hits and 468 home runs. Of course, he fell noticeably short of the 3,000 hit and 500 homer milestones, but injuries may have had something to do with that. Plus, he ranks third on the all-time list for the most home runs by a switch-hitter anyways, trailing only Eddie Murray (504) and Mickey Mantle (536).

The eight-time All-Star helped the Braves win a World Series back in 1995, was named NL MVP in 1999 and boasted a robust .364 BA back in 2008 to win an NL Batting Title. Remarkably, Jones never once struck out 100 times in a season and retired with more walks than strikeouts (1,512 to 1,409).

Perhaps most impressively, Jones retired with a career slash line of .303/.401/.529. That means he had a career batting average of over .300, an on-base percentage of over .400 and a slugging percentage greater than .500 — not exactly an easy thing to do. Among players with at least 8,000 plate appearances, his 141 career wRC+ is good enough for 34th all-time (Gary Sheffield is tied).

Although he played a bit of shortstop and also logged time in left field, Jones is mostly remembered for playing the hot corner. When it comes to Jay Jaffe’s JAWS system, Jones checks in with a mark of 65.8, ranking sixth all-time among third basemen. According to Baseball-Reference, the average JAWS score for all Hall of Fame third basemen is just 55.0, which he easily beats.

The 2018 Hall of Fame vote may be two years away, but as a baseball fan, it is never too early to begin thinking about such things. Based on the numbers, there is an extremely formidable case to be made for Jones being a first-ballot inductee. Many would even be tempted to describe it as a no-brainer.