Andruw Jones Finds Swing in Texas

OAKLAND -- Rangers hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo has a thing for fixer-uppers.

In 2007, the Rangers signed Sammy Sosa out of his one-year retirement and coaxed another 21 homers out of him.

In 2008, the Rangers got Milton Bradley after he had spent most of the previous year on the disabled list, and Bradley became an All-Star.

Now, the Rangers have Andruw Jones, a former MVP-caliber player who was run out of Los Angeles after a disastrous year. A month into the season, Jones seems to have rediscovered at least a part of his game.

"Every year we give someone like that a chance," Jaramillo said. "We've been lucky to fall into some good players."

It might not be reasonable to expect Jones to be the type of hitter he was during his prime in Atlanta -- and he will never be the type of outfielder he was -- but he's also a long way from the abject failure he was with the Dodgers.

Jones is hitting .341, in 44 at-bats so far with the Rangers. He played sparingly until Josh Hamilton went on the disabled list last week, but he's started in left field five times in the past week.

"He's got great ability," Jaramillo said. "He's still got great hand-speed. He's only 32 years old. He's got a lot of baseball left. He's got his confidence back."

Jones said he didn't feel like he had to prove himself to the baseball world.

"I had one bad year," he said. "What about the other 10 years? Was that a fluke? I don't think so."

Andruw Jones' Resurrection?
Year	G	XBH	AVG	RBI	OPS+
2005	160	78	.263	128	136
2006	156	70	.262	129	126
2007	154	55	.222	94	88
2008	75	12	3	14	34
2009	14	9	3	8	203

It was one really bad year, though.

After spending his whole career in Atlanta, winning 10 Gold Gloves and making five All-Star teams, Jones signed a two-year, $36 million deal with the Dodgers prior to the 2008 season.

He reported to spring training overweight and things went downhill from there. He was terrible at the plate. His .158 average was the lowest for a player with at least 200 at-bats since Yankees infielder Jim Mason hit .152 in 1975.

The normally laid-back Southern California fans relentlessly booed Jones at every turn. Longtime Dodger observers said he was booed at home more than any Dodger player in decades.

"It was tough," Jones said. "When you play in one place for so long and go someplace else, everyone has their eyes on you to do good, and it puts more pressure on you to perform. It was tough, but I learned a lot from it."

Jones lost his confidence. After the Dodgers released him, Jones sought out Jaramillo to help him rediscover his stroke.

"He told me he lost his swing and he lost his confidence, and he didn't know what to do about it," said Jaramillo, who started working with Jones before the Rangers signed him. "That's what happens with hitters. They get lost."

The Rangers offered Jones a no-risk minor-league deal, but when spring training began it didn't look like it was going to work. Jones struck out in 10 of his first 14 at-bats in the Cactus League.

"Everyone was looking at him, looking at me, saying 'What the heck is going on?'" Jaramillo said. "But he kept working and kept making adjustments. He earned the right to be on this team. He really went to work to get his swing right."

The first part of Jones' revival was losing some weight. He said he dropped about 10 pounds over the winter. He's still heavier than when he was a fleet center fielder, but he's in better shape than he was last year.

After that, he and Jaramillo worked together on getting his lower body still again, allowing him to keep his weight back longer and recognize pitches better.

Now he's a productive member of the Texas lineup, and he's earned the right to continue to get regular playing time, even when Hamilton comes back next week.

"He's Andruw Jones," Jaramillo said, as if to point out that last year he was someone else. "We're really happy to have him. We expect even bigger things as we go."