Major League Baseball

Top MLB prospect Druw Jones silences 'overrated' chants

Updated Mar. 3, 2022 3:39 p.m. ET

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Like father, like son.

The Jones family is familiar with handling high praise at a young age, and like his father Andruw Jones, top-rated baseball prospect Druw Jones is living up to the hype.

Jones is one of the best high school players in the country and is projected by MLB.com to be the first player chosen in the 2022 draft. The 6-4, 180-pound outfielder, a Vanderbilt commit was also named a unanimous preseason All-American by Baseball America.

Simply put, he's pretty good.

But high praise often comes with high criticism, and Jones certainly felt the heat of the spotlight when his Wesleyan School squad went to Decatur High School for an early-season road affair. Decatur's home crowd was the opposite of a welcoming host, and they let him hear just how they felt about him during his first at-bat. 

They flooded Jones with "overrated" chants as he stepped into the batter's box, and prepared to take on their starting pitcher, a Georgia State commit.

Despite undoubtedly hearing the jeers, Jones locked in on a chest-level fastball and sent a rocket screaming over the center-field fence, simultaneously sending the crowd into a collective hush. Jones took a few seconds to admire his handiwork, before flipping the bat towards his dugout and giving the crowd the "shh" signal as he rounded third base to venture home. The solo shot gave his Wolves a 1-0 lead in the first inning. 

And boy, was dad proud of his son's moxie. Pops hit his fair share of homers during his 17-year big league career. He tallied 434 bombs in total while racking up 10 Gold Gloves, five All-Star nods and winning a Silver Slugger award in 2005. The elder Jones played 12 seasons with the Atlanta Braves, before finishing out his career with stints on the Dodgers, Rangers, White Sox and Yankees.

So much for "overrated." The Wolves would go on to win the matchup, 6-1, while improving to 5-2 on the young season. But the story of the day was Jones' incredible silencing statement.

Here's how the baseball world reacted to his big fly.

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