Former Atlanta Braves great Chipper Jones is expected to be announced a first-ballot Baseball Hall of Fame inductee on Wednesday.
The third-baseman played his entire professional career with the Braves from 1993 to 2012.
As of Wednesday morning, Jones had received a vote on 98 percent of ballots submitted to tracker Ryan Thibodaux, who tracks balloting on his Twitter account. Thibodaux said that 55.7 percent of the ballots were known. If Jones' percentage remains at that level, he would become just the seventh Hall of Famer selected who was included on at least 98 percent of the ballots, according to MLB.com writer Mark Bowman.
A candidate needs votes on 75 percent of the ballots cast to be elected to the Hall of Fame.
Jones, the first overall pick in the 1990 draft, was a lifetime .303 hitter who got on base at a .401 clip and finished with a .930 OPS. His 468 home runs rank third all-time among players who primarily played third base, trailing only Mike Schmidt and Eddie Mathews, and he’s also third in homers by a switch-hitter, behind Hall of Famers Mickey Mantle and Eddie Murray. He was named MVP of the 1999 season.
Jones won a batting title at 36 and remained a force even as he battled injuries throughout his late 30s, delivering an OPS of at least .800 in each of his final four years. His lifetime OPS-plus of 141 would rank 34th among Hall of Famers, just above Duke Snider and Reggie Jackson.
His former teammates, pitchers Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz, have all been inducted into the Hall of Fame.
The announcement will be made around 6 p.m. If he is selected, 11Alive will speak to him around 8 p.m.
The 2018 class induction ceremony will happen on July 29 in Cooperstown, N.Y.
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