Atlanta Braves: Back-to-back Jones get tip of the cap from Dontrelle Willis

As we near the latest round of results from the Baseball Hall of Fame voters, former Atlanta Braves sluggers Andruw Jones (currently on the ballot) and Chipper Jones (already enshrined in Cooperstown) got a social media shoutout from one of their former division rivals in retired pitcher Dontrelle Willis.

On social media, Dontrelle Willis talked about pitching against the Atlanta Braves and the tough back-to-back combination of Chipper Jones and Andruw Jones.

When FOX Sports asked on Twitter if Andruw Jones should be in the Hall of Fame, it didn’t take long for Willis to answer.

During his nine-year playing career, Willis pitched against the Atlanta Braves on 20 occasions. That included twice in 2003 when Willis captured National League Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year honors. In those pair of games, Willis would give up 14 hits in 14 innings and five of those would come off the bat owned by one of the two Jones.

In those 20 career games against Atlanta, Willis would post a combined 4.88 ERA over 123.2 innings pitched. In his career, Willis never faced a single team more than the Braves and only against the New York Mets (129.1) would he see more innings on the mound.

Now on his fifth turn on the Baseball Hall of Fame ballot, Andruw Jones sits at just under 50 percent on ballots that have been returned and made public at the time of this writing (the day before the Hall of Fame results are announced). Being named on 75 percent or more of the ballots is what is required for inclusion in the Hall of Fame, so Andruw Jones will have some work to do on future ballots to join Chipper Jones in Cooperstown.

While Andruw Jones may not reach Cooperstown this season, odds are that the “bad man” (as Willis calls him in the tweet) will see his vote totals keep climbing in the years to come.