Staying Inside The Ball
Jack Wilkinson, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
On July 17, Atlanta Braves manager Bobby Cox took Andruw Jones out for some extra batting practice.
Standing in the batter's box, Cox had Jones toss balls to himself and hit them over second base.
The goal of the drill was "trying to make him stay inside the ball," Cox said of Jones, a notorious pull hitter with a .248 average at the time.
Cox wanted the Braves' centerfielder to keep his head in, see the ball better, perhaps use more of the field.
Immediately afterward, Jones began a season-high 10-game hitting streak and in the 15 games since July 17, Andruw is hitting .353 (18-for-51), raising his average to .263.
Jones has worked on what Cox and hitting coach Terry Pendleton have preached: staying inside the ball and using more of the field.
"But it's totally different when the game starts," Jones said. "I grew up pulling the ball. I made it to the major leagues pulling the ball."
"It's hard to change, hard to take stuff to the game right away," Cox said. "When he gets it all together, I think Andruw's capable of hitting .320, with a lot more homers and RBIs."
But Jones continues to step in the right direction -- by hitting to the opposite field.
On Sunday, Jones faced the Mets' Tom Glavine at Turner Field with a pair of runners aboard in the 5th inning.
Glavine threw a change-up, down and slightly away. "Not a bad pitch," he would say afterward.
"It's a pitch down and away. It's very easy to roll over on it and ground to the shortstop," second baseman Marcus Giles said.
Andruw Jones didn't roll over and die 6-3 again, not yet another groundout to short on your scorecard.
Instead, Jones reached out and went with the pitch, lofting a three-run home run to right field that proved to be the winning runs in the Braves 6-5 victory.
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