Is Jones overrated Defensively?

[Orioles2012]

The guy makes too many terrible errors for a Gold Glove center fielder. He seems to have absolutely no range. That little bloop hit that started the rally today looked EASILY catchable (For a Gold Glove CF that is) but he let it drop in front of him. I feel like he does this way too often and i feel like its very overlooked.

His bat is valuable, but everyone praises his Glove and I don't understand why.

Buck needs to take away his bubblegum until he starts shaping up defensively IMO. Because he DOES have the potential to make great plays, I feel like he isnt mentally 100% when hes in the outfield.

I feel like I'm going to get alot of heat for this but whatever.

[MDK02]

It was the right play that he made, if that ball gets by him that is at least a double if not 3b. Especially with the guys coming up to bat behind him. It was the right play by Adam

[barnanimal]

Very few people on here praise his glove. You can't walk players, bottom line. This one isn't on AJ.

[Orioles4Life21]

What did bubblegum have to do with that blooper falling? He may have had a chance if he dove, but if the ball gets by him then the lead off man is on second with no outs.

[Orioles4Life21]

Also, how ridiculous would Buck sound if he told another grown man "No bubblegum until you shape up on defense!" ??

[Orioles2012]

What did bubblegum have to do with that blooper falling? He may have had a chance if he dove, but if the ball gets by him then the lead off man is on second with no outs.

It was two outs, the ball wasnt hit very hard and it was definately within diving range, If he did dive and missed it wouldn't (if i recall correctly) have rolled very far and probably would've gotten trapped under his body. The bubblegum thing is more focused towards his general defense. I'm kinda tired of seeing him blow bubbles and miss the ball. It looks REALLY bad.

[justice98]

He's a good center fielder, but I don't see Gold Glove center fielder, which should be the best.

[Orioles4Life21]

It was two outs, the ball wasnt hit very hard and it was definately within diving range, If he did dive and missed it wouldn't (if i recall correctly) have rolled very far and probably would've gotten trapped under his body. The bubblegum thing is more focused towards his general defense. I'm kinda tired of seeing him blow bubbles and miss the ball. It looks REALLY bad.

My bad I forgot that one came with two outs. I still doubt he would have caught it. He played it safe.

[Orioles2012]

Very few people on here praise his glove. You can't walk players, bottom line. This one isn't on AJ.

I'm not blaming the loss on Jones here. He contributed with his bat and Its a team game after all. The inning would've been over if he didnt give up on it, I really do believe that if he dove he could've caught it, because he IS good enough to catch that ball. Its just the little things.

[BobDylanBundy]

Don't think Jones is an elite defensive CF and don't see anyone praising him as such either. He gets the job done in CF with acceptable competency, and offers some of the best offense in baseball at the position. Maybe you could move him to a corner and bring in a better fielding CF, but chances are good that the downgrade in offense wouldn't justify the defensive improvement.

I do believe the bubble gum was directly responsible for his error this year. I think it was against New York where he dropped a routine fly ball. He tracked the ball perfectly and on the slo-mo replay you could see he popped an enormous bubble right before the failed catch attempt. Routine play, mostly standard environment - the bubble popping was the distraction that caused the last second miscue.

[Spy Fox]

I'm sure he's overrated on the national scale, where the majority of people with opinions have probably watched him play like three times and don't know much beyond the fact that he's very athletic and has two gold gloves.

But he's definitely not overrated on this board.

[Can_of_corn]

Hey Mods, can we just sticky a thread for ripping Jones so the board won't get all cluttered up?

(only half joking)

[DrungoHazewood]

I'm sure he's overrated on the national scale, where the majority of people with opinions have probably watched him play like three times and don't know much beyond the fact that he's very athletic and has two gold gloves.

But he's definitely not overrated on this board.

If your opinion of Jones' defense is based on GGs and John Kruk and Harold Reynolds and stuff, then yes, he's overrated on defense. But the OP could do a little search and find about 443 Hangout threads about Jones' defense, his metrics, his miscues, his scouting reports, and on and on and on.

[atomic]

Markakis is overrated defensively as well. Good arm but lacks range.

[markakis8]

It was the right play that he made, if that ball gets by him that is at least a double if not 3b. Especially with the guys coming up to bat behind him. It was the right play by Adam

Exactly. He played that just like he was supposed to.

Can you imagine the thread if he had dove for the ball and missed it and the guy got a triple then scored on Kawasaki's single?