AJC > Sports > Braves > Blog > Archives > 2007 > January > 22
Monday, January 22, 2007
Give free-swinging Francoeur some time
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A few thoughts on Jeff Francoeur and other matters for all to ponder as I scramble to do taxes, clean gutters and other tasks before relocating the Braves/Man In Black blog to Dark Star for six weeks of spring ‘ball and painfully annoying theme-park fun (I’m kidding … it’s 6-1/2 weeks).
To the dude on the last blog who opined that Francoeur isn’t a good “bad ball” hitter. I respectfully disagree. Wholeheartedly. Francoeur is far better than most at hitting pitches outside the strike zone, and hitting them hard. That’s what baseball people mean when they say someone’s a good “bad ball” hitter.
Now, let me be clear: He isn’t nearly on the level of Vlad Guerrero in that regard; no one in today’s game is. Vlad the Bad has hit balls out of the park from a range that stretches from just above the top of his shoe tops to his neck. The man’s a freak like that, the greatest “bad ball” hitter of a generation.
Francoeur can hit ‘em out when they’re out of the zone, too. But the problem is that he swings at way too many pitches out of the zone, especially early in the count. He’s not Vlad, and needs to act accordingly. He gets behind in the count, and he’s at the mercy of pitchers, the better ones able to put him away frequently once they get him into a “pitcher’s count.”
Just tone it down a little, that’s what is needed. A compromise. Aggressive, but smart.
Francoeur swung at a major league-high 52.2 percent of the 686 first pitches he saw last season. Guerrero (49.2) was the only other hitter to swing at more than 45 percent of first pitches, and only five others swung at even 40 percent. Think about that.
There’s a reason Guerrero is never criticized for swinging at first pitches: Because, again, he’s unique. He thrives doing it his way. The man hit .329 with a .382 OBP and .934 OPS last season _ and that was his lowest OPS in his nine full seasons in the majors!
Meawhile, Francoeur hit .260 with an unsightly .293 OBP and .742 OPS. Yikes.
That said, Francoeur showed progress in his plate discipline and patience at times last season _ at times. But it was sporadic, and when he fell back into bat habits, he’d go through slumps and look frustrated and flail at the plate.
Nevertheless, he still hit 29 homers and drove in 103 runs. He’s a bit unusual himself, obviously. It’s tough to have a .293 OBP and nearly six times as many strikeouts as walks (23) and still say it was a productive year, but it was.
As hitting coach Terry Pendleton has said many times, the Braves don’t want to rein in Francoeur’s aggressiveness by telling him he has to take first pitches or that he must cut down the strikeouts.
It’s a fine line, but they don’t want to make him tentative or have him thinking too much at the plate, because his natural aggressiveness and lack of fear are two of his biggest strengths.
He’s only 23 had has had barely 1-1/2 seasons in the majors _ way too soon to say Francoeur is never going to be able to raise his OBP or hit for a high average. Long as he hits for a decent average with good power and drives in runs, the Braves can live with the low OBP _ for now. But eventually….
I agree with those who’ve speculated that his World Baseball Classic participation last spring hurt Francoeur. It was his first big league spring training, and he missed much of it while riding the pine for the U.S. in the tourney that caused more problems that it was worth.
Thankfully, they’re not having the thing this spring. Remember, Scott Thorman also played in the Classic for Canada (granted, the Canucks were out of it quickly, but that’s the last thing the Braves’ new 1B would need this spring, while preparing for the biggest year of his young career).
Francoeur _ and Thorman, Oscar Villarreal, et al _ can focus on working on things they need to work on in non-pressure situations this spring, getting at-bats and innings in spring training and preparing for the season. You know, the way spring training is supposed to be.
Stupid “Classic.”
(Actually, I ended up liking the Classic, but just don’t like how it affected many players and pitchers, especially in the early season. It’s got to be retooled, in my opinion, and moved to another time if it’s to work without adversely affecting the actual season that counts in the eyes of the vast majority of fans _ the major league regular season).
OK, those who might have seen the “key dates” listed in a box next to my Kelly Johnson story in today’s Journal-Constitution, please note those dates are wrong and I wasn’t responsible (don’t want someone showing up a late to spring training for P & C reporting date and blaming it on me).
Pitchers and catchers report Feb. 15 and have first workout Feb. 16. Rest of position players are due in Feb. 20, with first full-squad workout scheduled Feb. 21. But most non-catcher position guys will be there earlier than the 20th, and some (like Johnson) plan to arrive with the pitchers and catchers….
Shhhh: The gathering formerly known as “Camp Leo” is to be held Feb. 2-12 at Turner Field, but don’t expect to hear it discussed beforehand by pitching coach Roger McDowell or any Braves officials.
There’s been a crackdown of sorts on voluntary mini-camps held by teams before spring training, because the union felt teams have put pressure on players to attend said camps by discussing them publicly and talking as if they are important parts of the offseason program for the team (and the union was probably right to think that).
Players, especially young players, see such a camp discussed by the manager or the GM or whomever, and figure they’d better be there.
And so, a rule in the new collective bargaining agreement says team mini-camps must be completed by Feb. 5, which is why the Baltimore Orioles decided not to even have a Camp Leo (Leo Mazzone took the tradition to Baltimore with him last year and had the pitching camp before his first season with the Orioles) this year. They had already scheduled it for the week after that, so they just scrubbed it. Camp Leo was a bit too publicized to be held covertly.
The Braves are apparently getting around the rule by not acknowledging they are even having a camp. But if pitchers happen to show up on those days, it’s a good bet McDowell might just happen to be there to work with them. And I’ll bet Bobby Cox might happen to drop by, too.
By the way, this probably goes without saying, but the stadium isn’t open to the public. If you want autographs, you need to wait outside the players’ lot….
As a tribute to the great songwriters who’ll be part of the gig at Variety Playhouse on Saturday _ Guy Clark, Joe Ely, John Hiatt, Lyle Lovett _ here’s one of my favorite tunes by one of those brilliant, beautiful minds:
RANDALL KNIFE, by Guy Clark
My father had a Randall knife/My mother gave it to him
When he went off to WWII/To save us all from ruin
If you’ve ever held a Randall knife/Then you know my father well
If a better blade was ever made/It was probably forged in hell
My father was a good man/A lawyer by his trade
And only once did I ever see/Him misuse the blade
It almost cut his thumb off/When he took it for a tool
The knife was made for darker things/And you could not bend the rules
He let me take it camping once/On a Boy Scout jamboree
And I broke a half an inch off/Trying to stick it in a tree
I hid it from him for a while/But the knife and he were one
He put it in his bottom drawer/Without a hard word one
There it slept and there it stayed/For twenty some odd years
Sort of like Excalibur/Except waiting for a tear
My father died when I was forty/And I couldn’t find a way to cry
Not because I didn’t love him/Not because he didn’t try
I’d cried for every lesser thing/Whiskey, pain and beauty
But he deserved a better tear/And I was not quite ready
So we took his ashes out to sea/And poured `em off the stern
And threw the roses in the wake/Of everything we’d learned
When we got back to the house/They asked me what I wanted
Not the lawbooks not the watch/I need the things he’s haunted
My hand burned for the Randall knife/There in the bottom drawer
And I found a tear for my father’s life/And all that it stood for
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