'Work on it every day': Atlanta Braves All-Star Andruw Jones' advice for High School Sports Awards

Two pennants. Five All-Star Games. Ten consecutive Gold Gloves.

Now, for Andruw Jones, add one Greater Jacksonville High School Sports Awards show to the list.

The All-Star outfielder is the featured guest scheduled for the Greater Jacksonville High School Sports Awards, scheduled for May 23 at Peabody Auditorium in Daytona Beach, joining the excitement for hundreds of Northeast Florida's best high school athletes.

Athletes from sports ranging from baseball to cross country to swimming to tennis will be honored at the annual award show, which returns to an in-person format for the first time since 2019 after two years of remote presentations because of precautions stemming from the coronavirus pandemic.

Award show info: Greater Jacksonville High School Sports Awards to be on May 23 at the Peabody Auditorium

Jones, who made his Major League Baseball debut while still a teenager on his way to the National League pennant with the Atlanta Braves, became the youngest player ever to hit a home run in the World Series in 1996.

"Everybody dreams early," he said. "I dreamed since I was a little kid that I wanted to play baseball on TV... You grow up, other things come up and you're going to want to do other stuff, but you always have that dream in your head."

During Jones' career, stretching from 1996 to 2012 with the Braves, Los Angeles Dodgers, Texas Rangers, Chicago White Sox and New York Yankees, he hit 434 home runs, stole 152 bases and earned acclaim as an all-time defensive wizard in center field.

While Jones said the fundamentals of baseball don't change, he notices differences in the game he sees today in the major leagues.

As today's players gather information from the analytic side of the game, he said, they need to make sure they don't forget to develop their baseball instincts.

"I might think if I look at the baseball game now, I feel like, you know, a lot of guys on the field don't use instincts," he said. "You can see the guys that use the instincts because those are the ones that make the great plays."

Jones also cited the value of developing an athletic background in multiple sports. Growing up on the Caribbean island of Curacao, he said, he tried his hand at activities ranging from track to basketball to soccer to volleyball before settling on baseball.

"Just be active on everything," he said. "Right now, a lot of kids are just going to focus on one sport and that's all it is, and you can bored of one sport. I think if you have an opportunity to play every sport you want, go out and play. Just don't burn yourself out, but go out and play, because every sport is going to help you."

Monday's celebration will feature awards for top athletes in more than a dozen sports, as well as overall recognition for the Courage Award, Scholar-Athlete Award and more.

For the next generation, Jones urged the next wave of aspiring athletes to "go out there and learn something every day."

"Work on your craft every day," he said. "Go out there and work, if it's defense, if it's hitting, if it's everything. You've just got to work on it every day and try to get better in each part of the skills that you have."

Clayton Freeman covers high school sports and more for the Florida Times-Union. Follow him on Twitter at @CFreemanJAX.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Andruw Jones encourages Northeast Florida athletes at High School Sports Awards