Francoeur shows off new approach

Lake Buena Vista, Fla. — In his last round of batting practice Thursday, the one-swing round, a frisky Jeff Francoeur jumped into the cage and said to hitting coach Terry Pendleton: “Oppo bomb.”

Then he delivered an opposite-field blast over the right-field fence at Champion Stadium, into the Braves bullpen, nearly taking out a surprised group of pitchers.

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AP

Braves’ right fielder Jeff Francoeur is taking a new approach, after struggling last season.

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Francoeur smiled and said to manager Bobby Cox: “That’s strength, Skip.”

Cox replied: “I like it.”

Pendleton added in feined disbelief: “Did I just see what I just saw?”

Now, the Braves would like to see something as impressive in games.

Power. Opposite-field hits. Consistency. Offensive production far exceeding his 2008 performance. Francoeur entered last season with a .280 career average and .463 slugging percentage, then proceeded to hit just .239 with a .359 slugging percentage, 11 homers and 71 RBIs.

Francoeur changed things in the offseason, losing some bulk, getting in better baseball conditioning, and altering his swing during a three-day tutorial with a hitting coach in Texas.

The basic differences: Less hand movement, and more “open” with the front shoulder, which Francoeur said allows him to see pitches better with both eyes.

It took seven at-bats in two Grapefruit League games to get his first hit, a single during Atlanta’s four-run, seventh-inning rally Thursday in an 8-7 win against the Astros.

“I knew it was going to take work, which is why I asked Bobby if I could stay [in Wednesday’s game against the Tigers] to get four at-bats,” said Francoeur, who went 0-for-4 in the loss.

He hit one ball hard against the Tigers, and was mad at himself for being impatient on an inning-ending groundout with a runner on.

Against the Astros, he saw three pitches in his first two at-bats. But Francoeur lined a single to left in his third at-bat. The other good news: He’s not struck out, and seems ready to stick with his approach.

“It’s like taking one golf lesson,” Cox said. “It takes more than that. He made contact every swing [Wednesday]. I think he saw the ball pretty good. I thought it was a good start.”

When Pendleton noticed Francoeur closed his shoulder (turned it inward) a couple of times Wednesday, he told him. Francoeur corrected it, and in batting practice he hit balls hard to every field.

“I’ve got a lot of time down here to get things right,” said Francoeur, who hit 29 homers in 2006, hit .293 in 2007, and drove in more than 100 runs both seasons. “I just need to get my timing down. That’s gonna be the key for me, just getting repetitions. I’ve just got to get used to it.”