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 Drives Home Winning Run in Final Dodgers Stadium At-Bat

In what will likely be his final bat ever at Dodger Stadium (barring both the Braves and Dodgers making the playoffs) on Wednesday night (April 25), Chipper Jones drove in the go ahead and what would prove to be the game-winning run (shortstop Jack Wilson) on a RBI single off of Los Angeles Dodgers relief pitcher Javy Guerra.

To see Chipper’s game-winning hit click: HERE

The game-winning single for Jones capped off a series, in which he played in two of the team’s three games and hit 2-for-7 with a home run and two RBI.

Jones is now hitting .278 on the season with three home runs and 10 RBI.

The Braves are now 12-7 after the win over the Dodgers in which they took the series 2-1. Despite being one of the hottest teams in baseball right now, if not the hottest, the Braves still trail the young and surprising Washington Nationals in the National League East Division by 2.5 games. However, the Braves biggest threats to win the division are the Philadelphia Phillies, who are three games behind them in the standings, and the Miami Marlins, who are four games behind them in the standings.

Jonny Venters got the win for the Braves in relief, but starting pitcher Brandon Beachy had another great game. Despite giving up two earned runs, Beachy’s ERA in the first month of the season is 1.05. His ERA was a Major League Baseball best 0.39 coming into tonight’s game.

In non-Chipper Jones and non-Atlanta Braves related news, New York Yankees future hall of famer Derek Jeter is off to a white hot start this season hitting .416, with 30 hits in the Yanks first 16 games of the season. As great as Derek Jeter has been in his career he's never won a batting title ... could we be seeing him win one at age 39? Wrapping things back around to Chipper Jones, the Braves slugger knows a thing or two about winning batting titles after the age of 35. Jones won his batting title in 2008 when he hit .364 at the age of 36.