All-Diamond Team: Andruw Jones

In 2025, The Diamond hosts its 40^th and final season of professional baseball in Richmond. Between the Richmond Braves from 1985-2008 and the Richmond Flying Squirrels since 2010, countless future major leaguers have taken the steps from the first base dugout onto The Diamond’s playing surface.

Prior to the season, fans voted for The All-Diamond Team, selecting one manager as well as 14 of their favorite players who have gone on to MLB stardom after suiting up for the R-Braves and Flying Squirrels.

We continue the announcement of the All-Diamond Team with the fans’ choice for the first of three outfielders, Andruw Jones.

Manager: Grady Little
Starting Pitcher: John Smoltz
Starting Pitcher: Tom Glavine
Starting Pitcher: Logan Webb
Relief Pitcher: Mike Stanton
Relief Pitcher: Hunter Strickland
Utility Player: Mark DeRosa
Catcher: Javy Lopez
First Baseman: Ryan Klesko
Second Baseman: Joe Panik
Third Baseman: Chipper Jones
Shortstop: Brandon Crawford
Outfielder: Andruw Jones
Outfielder: TBA
Outfielder: TBA

Andruw Jones’ stay with the Richmond Braves in 1996 lasted just 12 games. That’s it. Only five of those games were at The Diamond.

It was the shortest stop in his minor-league climb. But nearly 30 years later, he is still one of the most discussed players in The Diamond’s 40-year history.

If you tallied every Richmonder who says, “I remember watching Andruw Jones play at The Diamond,” it would probably triple the ballpark’s capacity for those five games.

The previous year, he started the season at 17 years old and was named the Minor League Baseball Player of the Year by Baseball America and USA Today with the Single-A Macon Braves.

He began the 1996 season with High-A Durham and hit .313 with 17 homers in 66 games. With Double-A Greenville, he batted .369 with 12 homers in just 38 games.

In the summer of 1996, Jones arrived in Richmond at 19 years old. He was the youngest Richmond Braves player in more than 30 years. He was also Baseball America’s top-ranked prospect.

Jones made his Triple-A debut on July 31, 1996, in Columbus. He had three hits that game, including a two-run homer in the fourth inning against a rehabbing MLB pitcher, and he stole a base in a 9-7 Richmond win. The next day, he had a triple, a walk and scored a run.

Three days later in Columbus on August 4, Jones hit his second R-Braves homer past the 400-foot marker in center, his 31^st overall for the year. He also hit a two-run double in the sixth.

The team traveled down to Norfolk for one game before his highly anticipated home debut.

Jones played his first game at The Diamond on August 7 against the Norfolk Tides. In his first at-bat, he hit a double down the left field line to set up the R-Braves’ first run in a 2-0 win.

In his third home game on August 9 against Charlotte, Jones put on the kind of show Richmond fans had been hoping to see. In an 8-4 win, he went 3-for-4 with three RBIs. He drove in a run with a single in the first and came across the plate later in the inning. He also hit a double in the seventh.

But his biggest swing of the day came in the fifth inning. Facing Joel Adamson, Jones hit a three-run homer that manager Bill Dancy said was level with the top of the 90-feet-tall light towers when it passed out of The Diamond.

The next day, Charlotte took an early 2-0 lead. In the fifth, Jones hit a solo homer to left-center, his second home run in as many days. The next inning, he tied the game with an RBI single. Richmond went on to win, 6-2.

Jones wrapped his brief stop at The Diamond on August 11. He had two hits and scored twice, helping the R-Braves win their fifth straight game, which was their longest win streak of the season at that point.

In the fourth inning of that game, he swiped his 30^th stolen base of the year. Paired with his 33 homers, Jones joined the rare MiLB 30-30 club at 19 years old.

The R-Braves headed back down to Harbor Park Norfolk for a game on August 13. Jones hit another homer, his third in four games and his fifth in 12 games with Richmond.

That was it.

The next day, Jones rode on the bus with the team to Harbor Park. He got briefly got off and signed a few autographs before getting back on the bus and heading to the Norfolk airport. That night, he was in Philadelphia with the Atlanta Braves.

On August 15, 1996, Jones made his MLB debut for the Braves at Veterans Stadium. He picked up his first major league hit and RBI in a four-run ninth as the Braves won, 8-4.

Jones went on to play 17 seasons in the majors, including 12 years with Atlanta. He was a National League All-Star five times.

He won 10 consecutive Gold Glove Awards from 1998-2007. He is tied with Hall of Famers Al Kaline, Ichiro Suzuki and Ken Griffey Jr. for the third-most Gold Gloves won by an outfielder, trailing only Willie Mays and Roberto Clemente.

Jones had 434 homers in his career, tied for 49^th in MLB history.

In the voting for the 2026 Baseball Hall of Fame class, Jones will be on the ballot for the ninth year. If he is elected, he will become the fourth Richmond Braves player from The Diamond era to be enshrined in Cooperstown, joining Chipper Jones, John Smoltz and Tom Glavine.