Chipper Jones on coaching: 'I’m not ready to get back in uniform yet'

Two years into retirement, former Atlanta Braves third baseman Chipper Jones isn't ready for a return to baseball. 

Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez contacted the former National League batting champion and eight-time All-Star recently to gauge his interest in joining the team as a hitting coach, though Jones politely declined. 

“Fredi kind of took my temperature on it,” Jones told Carroll Rogers of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I’m not ready to get back in uniform yet. It’s too soon and I don’t know if I’d be dedicated enough to the job right now. …

“I sat back and I started thinking about it. It’s even more of a time commitment from a coaching standpoint than it is a player standpoint. I don’t want to be at the park at noon every day. I don’t want to be at the park until midnight every night. I don’t want to wake up at spring training and have to be there at 6:30 in the morning. It’s a huge commitment, and I don’t want to cheat the organization at this point because I’m not ready to put that kind of time commitment into it.”

Jones spent his entire 19-year career with the Braves, collecting 2,726 hits and slashing .303/.401/.529 with 468 home runs and 1,623 RBI in 2,499 games.