Chipper Jones stopped by Turner Field on Friday to pick up, of all things, his Emmy. He won the regional award for his participation in a Fox Sports South show about, of all people, Chipper Jones. “My Emmy is going to have to stand where my prospective Gold Glove award was going to be,” he said in that sardonic Chipper way. And then he, with prompting from this correspondent, turned to baseball.
Q: What do you think of the Braves?
A: You put me on the spot.
Q: Well, it’s an open-ended question.
A: I think they're great. (Laughs.) No, I said it (on TV): The word of the year is just "inconsistent." They've struggled to put all three facets of the game together. Obviously the pitching started off great and the hitting was not there, and they've hit from time to time and their pitcher will give up some runs. And they'll have a bad defensive game every once in a while — (though) the defense has been pretty solid for the most part. I don't know. It's weird to watch from time to time because you're used to. … They've got some good hitters in that lineup, and I'm used to seeing them put up better at-bats on a nightly basis. The offense as a whole has struggled for that consistency.
Q: You’ve been a proponent of on-base percentage. When you see a team that doesn’t fight through at-bats, as they say, and that doesn’t get on the way you think a team should, what’s your prescription for that? Be more patient? Be grittier?
A: My goal every time I walked to the plate was to try to be as tough an out as possible. I walked a fine line between being aggressive and getting a fastball to hit early in the count and being good late in counts as well, seven to eight pitches into an at-bat. While some deem that to be easy, it's not easy for everybody. People struggle with that. Some people walk up to the plate and they're looking for the first strike. I think in a lot of instances that's probably what the majority of (the Braves') hitters do.
Q: According to hitting coach Greg Walker, the Braves swing at the first pitch more than any team in the majors and do less with it than any team.
A: That's a bad combination.
Q: People ask if you’ve ever thought about coaching or being a hitting coach. Have you?
A: Every time I think about it, I think back to Eric Hinske saying, 'You would be an awful hitting coach.' Sometimes I think he's right, from the standpoint that hitting came easy to me. It's not that easy for everybody. For someone not to be able to make an adjustment at the plate, I don't understand that. I can't understand how you can't have the aptitude to make adjustments at the plate. And that would drive me crazy with certain hitters. I think in a sense I would have something to offer them …
Q: But you’ve heard it said that great players tend to be bad coaches or managers.
A: … So while I would like to think that I would be a good hitting coach, I'm not so sure.
Q: If you were managing the Braves, would you flip the lineup around? Or would you just keep on with what they’ve been doing?
A: I don't know that there's a tremendous amount they can do. I guess you could flip around the 2-hole a little bit, or maybe the 7 and 8 hole. Those three spots right there I guess could be interchangeable. Everything else is pretty much how I would do it.
Q: (Question asked by Kevin McAlpin of 680 The Fan.) What have you thought of Tommy La Stella?
A: He's been great. I haven't seen him a tremendous amount, but he looks like he's got an idea of what he's doing at the plate, the kind of guy who might be one of those good 2-hole type guys hopefully in the future once he gets his feet wet. But any guy who puts the ball in play, which is sorely needed by this ballclub, is an asset.
Q: Do you watch games? Whole games? Parts of games?
A: I watch parts of games. It's hard for me to sit there.
Q: Baseball games take a long time.
A: Yeah, they do. (Laughs.) My TV has got holes because I've thrown stuff.
Q: The pitching in April was tremendous. You couldn’t get any better than that. You had to figure that was going to slip. From what you’re seeing now, if the team doesn’t start hitting more consistently, is it a playoff team?
A: If they are the second-to-worst offense — is that where they are right now? — in the National League, they're going to have trouble. Their pitching will keep them in a bunch of games, but if they don't move out of that spot offensively, it's going to be hard. You're starting to see Washington play a lot more consistent baseball, and they're not even healthy yet. Who knows how long the Marlins are going to hang around? I thought they would have been six, seven games back by now with the injury to (pitcher Jose) Fernandez, but they're hanging in there. The longer and longer the Braves allow teams to hang around, the harder it's going to be.
Q: Do you think the Braves missed an opportunity, not supporting the pitching better than they have?
A: I think, along with a lot of other people, they should be five or six games in front.
Q: It’s weird to walk into the clubhouse because there’s no Brian McCann, no Chipper Jones. I think, “Who offers the state-of-the-team quote today?” So you’re at least missed in that regard, if no other.
A: (Laughs.) I appreciate it.
