Andruw Jones - Early Professional Career

Early Professional Career

Jones signed with the Atlanta Braves organization as a free agent in 1993 at the age of 16. Jones would be promoted to Danville of the Appalachian League after only 27 games with the Braves farm team in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Jones would play for Class-A Macon in 1995. In his first at bat, he belted a homer. He would finish the season with 25 home runs and 100 runs batted in. Jones also led the South Atlantic League with 56 steals. His outstanding season was capped off when he was named Minor League Player of the Year.

The Braves brought Jones up to Atlanta on August 15, 1996, when he was just 19 years old. In his first career Major League game, Jones went 1 for 5 with a run batted in and a runs scored. In his second game, he went 2 for 5 with a home run and a triple. He had his first multi-homer game against the Reds on August 22. He spent his early time in the majors playing in right field because established center fielders Marquis Grissom and Kenny Lofton were already entrenched in the position. He would finish the season batting .217 with 5 home runs and 13 RBIs.

In the National League Championship Series against the Cardinals, Jones batted .222 with a home run and 3 RBIs. The Braves would win the Series and advance to the World Series.

In Game 1 of the 1996 World Series on October 20, 1996, Jones was able to demonstrate his talents on the national stage. He connected for two home runs to left field on his first two at bats as the Braves routed the New York Yankees 12–1. Jones became the youngest player ever to homer in the World Series at the age of 19 years, 180 days, breaking Mickey Mantle's record of 20 years, 362 days - on what would have been Mantle's 65th birthday. Jones joined Gene Tenace as the only other player to hit home runs in his first two World Series at bats. Tenace did it in 1972 with the Oakland Athletics.