Chipper Headed to 15-Day DL

When Chipper is down, so are the Braves.

Chipper Jones’ left leg contusion is severe enough that the Atlanta Braves had to place him on the 15-day disabled list tonight after their 7-4 loss to the Washington Nationals at Turner Field in Atlanta. The move is retroactive to Wednesday when Jones pinch hit in a game against the Cincinnati Reds, drawing a walk. That pinch hit appearance was Chipper’s first game action since suffering the injury at Tropicana Field against the Tampa Bay Rays on May 18 in interleague action.

Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez has said that the player called up to take Jones’ spot on the roster will be a catcher, likely Triple-A Gwinnett catcher J.C. Boscan. The Braves are in need of a second catcher right now after backup catcher David Ross (the best backup catcher in the bigs, in my opinion) strained his right groin in the Braves loss tonight (May 25). On top of that Braves starting catcher Brian McCann has missed almost the entire week with the flu, which he was forced to finish the game tonight for Ross while still having.

According to the Atlanta-Journal Constitution: “Jones said the nasty bruise was taking much longer to heal than he originally expected. While Jones has been able to take batting practice, he said he could only run at 25-30 percent of full speed due to soreness in the area ranging from his foot to mid-calf from the bruising.”   

The worst part of all of this is that Jones did pinch hit in Wednesday’s game, meaning that the retroactive date for him to come off of the DL. Had he not made that short appearance, the retroactive date would’ve been May 18, meaning that Chipper could’ve potentially returned sooner to the Braves lineup.

The Braves have proven desperate to have Jones in the lineup this season. With Jones in the lineup the Braves have been the best team in the National League East Division, but with him out of the lineup they have looked like cellar dwellers. This fact alone seems to make Chipper the single most important player in baseball this season to a particular team.

In shortened time this season Chipper is batting .307 with five home runs and 24 RBI. When healthy and in the lineup Jones has put up All Star type numbers, so for the Braves (who are sinking fast) sake they better hope he returns as soon as possible and keeps up his hot pace.

Chipper Approaching Third Base Record

*NOTE* First of all, I must greatly apologize for the length of time that it’s been since I’ve updated this blog. I haven’t had the chance to write for it since I attended the Braves/Cardinals series a couple of weeks ago. I’ll try not to let that much time go by before updating again during this season, despite my busy life getting in the way.  

One milestone that Chipper Jones will likely break this season is to finish his career with the most career RBI of any third baseman in baseball history. That sentence and stat alone should prove Jones’ stature as one of the all-time greats in his sport. The current leader in that category is baseball Hall of Famer and Kansas City Royals legend George Brett who finished his career with 1,596 RBI. Between Brett and Jones is the man generally considered as the greatest third baseman in baseball history Philadelphia Phillies legend Mike Schmidt with 1,595 RBI.

Only needing 12 RBI to break the record for most RBI by a third basemen, Chipper should have the record within the next month if he remains healthy (something which he’s currently not). Jones has missed the last few Atlanta Braves games with a calf contusion that’s seen him miss most of the Braves series against the Tampa Bay Rays and the current series against the Cincinnati Reds. He is, however, expected to rejoin the Braves lineup soon.  

George Brett

Despite approaching the record for most RBI in a career by a third baseman, Jones has not accumulated all of his career RBI at the position. As most probably remember, Chipper played a couple of seasons as the Braves starting left fielder in the early 2000s. Jones has also accumulated RBI in his career at shortstop (which he began his career as and was drafted as) and as a designated hitter in interleague play.

It’s amazing to see that Jones is going to surpass both Mike Schmidt and George Brett in one of the sport’s most important statistical categories in the upcoming weeks. Other names he will either likely pass or could pass this season include Hall of Famers Andre Dawson, Nap Lajoie, Goose Goslin and Ernie Banks. He never ceases to amaze.