Andrew is ripping the cover off the ball

[chillzatl]

He is on a hell of a run. personally I think that stance change has finally become natural for him and we're seeing the results. He's just not missing anything down the middle and he's not swinging away at breaking balls down and away.

[KB21]

He's incredible right now. If that average keeps creeping up there, we may have a potential MVP on our hands. This is the Andruw Jones everyone was seeing when he was coming up.

[Plainview1981]

I was thinking the next Ken Griffey jr. Does he have

a chance to still live up to that?

[KB21]

He's only 28, but that may still be a bit too old to really be compared to Griffey Jr. Being compared to Barry Bonds is not out of the question though, IMO. If you check Bond's stats during his first 9 seasons in the bigs, they are very similar to Andruw's.

[kudzu23]

Vote for Jones! Hurry, the voting is winding down, only 3 days left

http://www.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/events/a.../ballot_reg.jsp

[CBAreject]

Sosa wasn't great until he was 30. 1998 was his first super season (66 hr) and he was 29+ that year.

[Plainview1981]

Quote:

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He's only 28, but that may still be a bit too old to really be compared to Griffey Jr. Being compared to Barry Bonds is not out of the question though, IMO. If you check Bond's stats during his first 9 seasons in the bigs, they are very similar to Andruw's.

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Not really, Bonds was much better on the bases and his

OBP is alot higher than Jones. Jones OBP career high is

.366 and Bonds hasn't been that far down since 1989.

[chillzatl]

and while I dont think he's going to stay quite a locked in as he is. I don't think we're going to see those prolonged slumps that we've come to expect from Andrew. Why is that? His new stance! I think the stance is making all the difference. Everyone talks about him being a streaky player and being on a big streak now. but I dont' think that's the case. At least not in the sense that he's going to completely fall off again. He's always been regarded as a player with some of the highest potential in the league. But he never put it together for an entire season. I think that was becuase of his stance. He's got great eyes and great hands, which would get him locked in for periods. But his stance was soo weak, so unbalanced, that he just couldn't maintain it. He was so susceptable to coming off the ball and chasing those down and away pitches. This new stance allows him to sit back, wait on pitches, see them better and hit them later, with more power than he could before. Pitches that he used to tap into weak ground outs or double plays, he's now able to get an extra few milli seconds on and drive them with power.

Cuz if you remember, he started spring training like a rocket and all you heard about was his new stance. Then he slumped. Which I think was because he just wasn't completely used to it. Then he found his stroke again and almost got back up near .300 again. Then he lost it again. but that only lasted like 2 weeks. Now he seems fully adjusted to the change and it's showing big time in the results. He could really be on his way to being the hitter everyone felt he could be.

[DominiqueWilkins]

Quote:

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Sosa wasn't great until he was 30. 1998 was his first super season (66 hr) and he was 29+ that year.

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Your also talking someone who was clearly on Roids, and I can't say the same about Andruw Jones. Bobby Cox has been saying it for years about AJ, and we are now finally seeing it.

It's called stepping up and Terry is really helping AJ find his swing.

[CBAreject]

Sammy was on roids, but he also changed his stance and swing in that same season. You don't hit over .300 and take well over 100 walks and hit 66 homeruns just by being really strong.

He had bad timing and swung at too many bad pitches early in his career. He took off after he studied Chipper's stance. It really helped his pitch selection and timing.

[kudzu23]

Another Andruw Jones homerun in the top of the 13th vs the Marlins. His 25th I believe and we arent quite halfway through the season yet! I'd hate to see someone suggest that he was on roids, it just cant be. He doesnt have the physique or the edgyness. I had a bad feeling about baseball this year but I've enjoyed baseball more this year early on more than I have in the past, despite the Braves tough time this season. Its even more rewarding to see them make something out of nothing. Go Braves!!