The Baseball Writers' Association of America released their votes for the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame on Tuesday night. Adrián Beltré, Joe Mauer, and Todd Helton were elected, but former Atlanta Braves centerfield Andruw Jones fell just short of induction.
Jones is one of the more beloved Braves players, and his No. 25 was retired in September, but does he belong in the Hall of Fame? The Steakhouse was divided on whether or not Jones deserved induction to the highest honor in professional baseball.
"I am -- and anybody who has followed me knows I've been like this for years and years -- so [against] this movement that we've gotten into over the last five to 10 years where everyone is a Hall of Famer," Mark Zinno said to Rusty Mansell on Wednesday morning. "We are so rushing to put people into the Hall of Fame."
The 10-time Gold Glove winner is widely regarded as one of the best defensive centerfielders of all time. In fact, there are only five other players who have won as many Gold Gloves has Jones -- four are in the Hall of Fame (Ken Griffey Jr., Al Kaline, Willie Mays, and Roberto Clemente), the other is Ichiro Suzuki (who is eligible for the Hall next season).
Zinno doesn't see Jones as a player deserving of that honor. Not that he's a bad player, just that he doesn't warrant induction into Cooperstown.
"This was one of the dominant, elite players for five or six years," Mansell retorted. "Ok, but that's Hall of Fame to me!"
Over his 17-seasons, Jones batted .254 with 434 home runs and an .823 OPS. He was included in five All-Star games and won the National League's Hank Aaron Award in 2005 when he set the Braves single-season home run record. Between 1998 and 2007, Jones trailed only Alex Rodrigues and Barry Bonds for the highest fWAR in baseball.
Jones' Hall of Fame vote percentage rose from 58.1 in 2022 to 61.6 percent, year over year, but he still fell short of the necessary 75 percent threshold (or 289 of the total 385 ballots cast). However, his totals have risen every season that he has been eligible -- Jones received 7.3 percent of the vote in 2018, 7.5 percent in 2019, 19.4 percent in 2020, 33.9 percent in 2021, and 41.4 percent in 2022.
He still has three more years of eligibility on the ballot.