Atlanta Braves hire Andruw Jones as special assistant

The Atlanta Braves hired former All-Star outfielder Andruw Jones as a special assistant to baseball operations.

Jones will report to John Hart, president of baseball operations, and to general manager John Coppolella, the team announced Monday.

This is the same title the Braves gave Jones' longtime Atlanta teammate, Chipper Jones, in December.

"It's going to be fun," Andruw Jones said. "We're just trying to be a part of the organization that we were with for a long time and where we started. We're trying to help and rebuild it back to where it used to be as a competitive organization for a long time."

Andruw Jones, who was named last week as a 2016 inductee into the Braves Hall of Fame, makes his return to the club in the support role.

Jones has been at spring training camp in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., as an instructor and during the regular season he will primarily focus on assisting Braves outfielders, as well as assisting with the organization's international initiatives.

"We are very excited to add Andruw to our staff as a special assistant," Coppolella said in a statement. "He is perhaps the most accomplished defensive outfielder in our organization's history and one of the best in baseball history. He signed at the age of 16 and was developed in this organization. He can offer a lot of experience and knowledge to our young players and we look forward to his contributions."

Jones earned 10 consecutive Gold Glove Awards from 1998 to 2007 and was a five-time National League All-Star. In 2005, he led the NL with a Braves franchise-record 51 home runs while also collecting 128 RBIs to finish second in voting for the league's Most Valuable Player Award. That season he also won the Hank Aaron Award as the NL's top hitter and the Major League Player of the Year Award from the Sporting News.

"I'm excited to be back with the Braves organization," Jones said. "This is where I began my career and I'm looking forward to working with the young players and watching them develop."

Jones signed with the Braves in 1993 and made his big-league debut late in the 1996 season. In Game 1 of the 1996 World Series, at the age of 19, he hit two home runs and became the youngest player to homer in a World Series game.

Jones' last season with Atlanta was in 2007 and in 12 seasons with the Braves, he batted .263 with 1,683 hits, 1,045 runs, 368 home runs and 1,117 RBIs in 1,761 games.

Jones played the final season of a 17-year major league career in 2012 with the New York Yankees. In 2,196 career games, he tallied 434 homers and 1,289 RBIs.

"We're happy to have (Andruw) back," Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "He's been terrific. He's been an asset to spring training."