Jones Seeks Revenge

Jones Seeks Revenge Jones Seeks Revenge

Lake Buena Vista -- Atlanta Braves third baseman Chipper Jones said it's time for payback.

Despite hitting 20 or more home runs in his first three full seasons in the majors, and averaging 102 RBIs, Jones is slightly bitter about his hitting.

It seems that the switch-hitter from DeLand isn't delighted with his production from the right side. So he made a "conscious effort" to work on that natural side during spring training.

"I get a lot of crunch time at-bats in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings," Jones said. "I need to make some people pay for turning me around. Hopefully, I can get back up around the .300 mark from my right side, which will be a plus."

Last season, Jones, who graduated from Jacksonville Bolles in 1990, hit a career-low .250 with 1 homer and 21 RBIs from that side. His numbers from the left: .317 with 20 homers and 90 RBIs.

With the imposing right-handed first baseman Andres Galarraga now batting in the cleanup spot behind Jones, teams might be less inclined to bring in a left-handed reliever to pitch against Jones. In the past, that was a popular move because lefty Fred McGriff followed Jones in the lineup.

Does the acquisition of Galarraga give Jones an edge?

"It does, but even if Freddie were still here, I'd still be working on that," said Jones, whose 41 doubles last season are the most by a Brave since Hank Aaron hit 40 for Milwaukee in 1965. "I feel like until I prove to people I can get the job done from that side of the plate, they're going to keep turning me around. I just got to get back to the basics and try to stay inside the ball. I got in some bad habits, and they stuck with me. Now, we have to fix'em."

Jones, who lives in Atlanta during the offseason, started fixing the problem last month. "I came down a little early this year because I wanted to work on my right side and get straightened out with my dad," said Jones, whose father, Larry, is an assistant coach at Stetson.

By Scott Kauffman, The Orlando Sentinel

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