Jones hauls in Silver Slugger Award
10/31/2005 3:04 PM ET

By Mark Bowman / MLB.com

ATLANTA -- Not that he was getting tired of being honored on an annual basis with Gold Gloves, but Andruw Jones wanted to add some variety to his trophy case.

Problem solved. With the variety of awards that he's already received and is expected to receive over the next few weeks, he now has to seriously think about adding another trophy case to his suburban Atlanta home.

Jones' latest award came on Monday, when Louisville Slugger announced him as one of their Silver Slugger Award winners for this season. He was one of eight National League selections to earn the award for the first time.

Appropriately, this has been a very rewarding offseason for Jones, who led the Majors with 51 homers and the National League with 128 RBIs. Over the past two weeks, he's been named The Sporting News' Major League Player of the Year and the NL's recipient of the distinguished Hank Aaron Award.

It's assumed he'll win an eighth consecutive Gold Glove Award later this week. Next week, he'll keep his fingers crossed and hope that the media announces that he has been voted this year's NL MVP.

With his power barrage, Jones broke the franchise record for homers in a season. The mark was previously shared by Hall of Famers Eddie Mathews and Hank Aaron. Heading into this season, Jones had never hit more than 36 homers or driven in more than 116 runs.

Jones was named the NL Player of the Month in June and August. He hit 39 of his home runs and recorded 97 of his RBIs after June 10, which was just four days after Chipper Jones began a six-week stint on the disabled list.

While Chipper was out, Andruw hit .311 with 15 homers and 38 RBIs. His heavy contributions during that period, combined with his defensive mastery, helped carry the Braves to their 14th consecutive division title. At the same time, it significantly enhanced his MVP resume.



2005 Silver Slugger Award winners
2B - Alfonso Soriano, TEX
3B - Alex Rodriguez, NYY
SS - Miguel Tejada, BAL
OF - Vladimir Guerrero, LAA
OF - Manny Ramirez, BOS
OF - Gary Sheffield, NYY
C - Jason Varitek, BOS
DH - David Oritz, BOS
1B - Derrek Lee, CHC
2B - Jeff Kent, LAD
3B - Morgan Ensberg, HOU
SS - Felipe Lopez, CIN
OF - Andruw Jones, ATL
OF - Miguel Cabrera, FLA
OF - Carlos Lee, MIL
C - Michael Barrett, CHC
P - Jason Marquis, STL

The one glaring negative statistic for Jones this season was the .263 batting average he produced. After belting his 50th home run on Sept. 14, he recorded just eight hits in his remaining 51 at-bats. That, along with an 0-for-28 spell in April, prevented him from proving how much more consistent he was this year.

Jones was the only Braves player to win a Sliver Slugger Award this year. The selections were determined by balloting among coaches and managers. Presentations of the Silver Slugger awards will be conducted in pregame ceremonies early in the 2006 season by a representative of the Hillerich & Bradsby Co., makers of Louisville Slugger.

Others selected to the NL Silver Slugger team this year were Derrek Lee, Jeff Kent, Felipe Lopez, Morgan Ensberg, Carlos Lee, Miguel Cabrera, Michael Barrett and Jason Marquis. Kent is the only member to have received this honor before.

This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.