The Braves announced Monday that Hall of Famer Chipper Jones will join their Major League coaching staff on a part-time basis as a hitting consultant.
Jones, 48, knows a thing or two about hitting — as evidenced both by his plaque in Cooperstown and his career .303/.401/.529 batting line. Jones spent each of his 19 Major League seasons with the Braves and made eight All-Star teams and won a batting title along the way. A beacon of consistency and excellence, Jones can lay claim to the incredible feat of batting over .300 from both the right side of the plate and the left side of the plate in his remarkable career. He also walked more often (1512 times) than he struck out (1409) over that span of nearly two decades.
Jones has been working as a special assistant to GM Alex Anthopoulos in recent years, but he’ll now take a more hands-on role with the players on the field. Carroll Rogers Walton of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes that Jones will work alongside assistant hitting coaches Jose Castro and Bobby Magallanes under hitting coach Kevin Seitzer. He will not be in the dugout or travel with the team, however. Rather, he’ll focus on video work with Braves’ hitters and work with them in the cages.
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