Atlanta Braves Hire Chipper Jones as a Hitting Consultant

Legendary baseball Hall-of-Famer, Chipper Jones is returning to Atlanta after nine years of retirement. The Braves hired Jones as a part-time hitting consultant. He spent 19 years with Atlanta from 1993-2012 and became a sports broadcaster for ESPN after  retirement. It is not the first time Jones has taken a role with the organization. He did serve as a special assistant to baseball operations about five years ago.

During his career, Jones had a batting average of .303, 468 home runs, and had 1,623 RBI. He was added to eight All-Star games and landed in the top 10 NL MVP five times. He also walked more times than he did strikeout, as stated in the press release. In his first year of eligibility, Chipper Jones became inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame in 2018. The former No. 1 overall pick took to Twitter to express his gratitude for the opportunity. He stated how excited he was to rejoin his team right before spring training. He joked that he would not try to "screw them up."

The Braves finished first in batting average (2074) and second in home runs (103); however, pitching fell outside the top 15 this season. According to MLB, Atlanta had a 4.1 earned run average and had zero completed games from a pitcher. The Brave's pitchers and catchers will return for spring training on Feb. 17 and position players on Feb. 22, ESPN reported. The 2021 season is expected to start on Apr. 1.

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