Jason Stark has written an interesting book claiming that Andruw Jones is the most overrated center fielder of all time. I think the "all time" portion is a big stretch. Jason does, however, put stats around something that I think a lot of Braves fans have suspected for the last few years. Andruw is not the same defender he used to be. I don't know if it is the weight gain or just age, but he does not have the range he had in the late 1990s.
Based on Jason's stats, the lack of range is even more dramatic that I suspected. Andruw dropped from a career high of 493 put outs in 1999 to 365 put outs in 2005. He equates that to about three extra hits per week. Not only that, but in some stat tracking process that ESPN has to rate center fielders based on range, Jones finished last! That is shocking.
I will hate to see Andruw go when the Yankees, Red Sox or Mets inevitably sign him after this season. I do think that the Braves can get a lot more for their money than they are getting from Jones.
Read Jason Stark's full article here.
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