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Braves Legend Chipper Jones Reveals the 2 Toughest Pitchers He Ever Hit Against cover image

Chipper Jones makes an honest admission.

Atlanta Braves legend Chipper Jones found success against most of the pitchers he faced in his career. You don't hit .303 for your career with 468 home runs by accident. However, there were two pitchers who Jones especially did not enjoy facing. 

Chipper Jones Makes an Honest Admission

Randy Johnson and Roger Clemens are two of the greatest pitchers of all-time. While Jones actually found success against Johnson and Clemens, that does not mean he looked forward to at-bats against the former superstar hurlers.

"There were a bunch of guys that I actually had good numbers against that I did not enjoy facing," Jones said during an interview, via the Flippin' Bats Podcast. "Obviously, a guy like Randy Johnson. I had good numbers overall against Randy and hit some homers against him and whatnot, but he gave me three hat-tricks. And one of those three was my only four strikeout game of my entire career.

"So, Randy, if you were not on your game, he could embarrass you. Fortunately I was on my game some when I facing him. But he was one of those guys where you were like, 'Man, I just gotta scratch and claw for one and get out of there.' You know?"

Jones hit .361 with a 1.299 OPS and six home runs across 36 at-bats against Johnson. With that being said, Johnson did strike Jones out 14 times.

"I would have to say the one guy that had dominant stuff... was probably the one guy that I had the most trouble with, and that was Clemens," Jones continued. "I will say this 'till the day I die, you know, lot of those guys have great stuff, but they don't pitch with the great stuff. They just over-power people.

"Roger Clemens never threw anything down the middle. Ever."

Against Clemens, Jones recorded a .313 batting average and 1.013 OPS to go along with one home run. Clemens was able to strike out the Braves' Hall of Famer five times, however.

The fact that Jones performed well against Johnson and Clemens perfectly explains why he ended up becoming a first-ballot Hall of Famer. Chipper never backed down against any pitcher, regardless of what they were throwing.

Still, like most hitters, Chipper did not enjoy facing Clemens or Johnson -- who are arguably the best right-handed and left-handed pitchers to ever step foot on a big league mound.

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