Public HOF Ballots Hopeful Sign for Braves Legend Andruw Jones

Jones fell short last year on the Hall of Fame ballot, but the Atlanta Braves legend appears to be in range of finally reaching Cooperstown

Andruw Jones may finally be gaining the last bit of traction he needs | Tom Szczerbowski-Imagn Images

Ballots for induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame are slowly rising to the surface. Based on the ballots that are out there, Atlanta Braves legend Andruw Jones should feel cautiously optimistic.

According to a notable ballot tracker, Ryan Thibodaux, he has received votes from 80.4% of the 92 ballots that have been revealed. A few hundred ballots are still private, but such a large portion of these votes is very promising for him.

Normally, once a player has a sample proportion of votes in a sample size this large, they typically get voted in. It's not too surprising. He wasn't that far off last year, and there is typically a push at the end of someone's time on the ballot. This is Jones' ninth of 10 years he can be on the ballot.

Last year, he received 66.2% of the vote. Of 179 public ballots ahead of the official announcement, he had been pushing closer to the needed 75% of the vote at around 72%. That's a decently sized margin of error. However, he's well above that projection so far this time around. He has some cushion this time around.

Andruw Jones won 10 Gold Gloves in his career and received MVP votes in five seasons. He was the runner-up for the MVP in 2005, falling short in a tight voting with Albert Pujols. He finished with 434 home runs and 1,289 RBIs while having a lifetime average of .254 and an .823 OPS.

At this point, it's up to the writer's to decide if he had the peak worth of Cooperstown. It has been hard for them to agree on Dale Murphy, but Jones is much closer than his fellow legendary Braves outfielder ever has been.

Better counting stats help his case. Having been around in more recent memory can help too. In the end, it can be chalked up whether one of the best defensive outfielder of the late 90s and early 2000s, who also have an All-Star bat, gets to be recognized as such.

On Jan. 20, the results of the 82nd Baseball Writers’ Association of America Hall of Fame election will be revealed live from the Hall of Fame Plaque Gallery in Cooperstown. It's looking promising for a number of names, but for the Braves, their fans and alumni, eyes are going to be mainly on one guy.