Francoeur’s new approach starts to produce

Clearwater, Fla. — So far this spring, Jeff Francoeur’s new hitting approach had produced line drives, no strikeouts, and a few kudos from hard-to-please teammate Chipper Jones.

But not many hits.

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AP

Jeff Francoeur says he’s starting to feel comfortable with his new hitting stance.

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That made Wednesday more satisfying for Francoeur, who went 2-for-2 with a sacrifice fly and two RBIs in the Braves’ 12-10 win against the Phillies.

“I’m starting to really get comfortable with my stance and where I’m at,” said the right fielder, who had been 3-for-20 with two RBIs in nine previous Grapefruit League games — not the kind of start he’d hoped for after feeling so good in his offseason batting-practice sessions.

“You know when I was going into this [spring training], you feel so good in BP you don’t believe it’s going to take a couple of weeks worth of games to get you going,” he said. “But it does.”

Francoeur, 25, made significant adjustments in November, after batting just .239 with 11 homers and 71 RBIs during the 2008 season, including .192 with runners in scoring position.

It was a big decline for the former Parkview High star, who amassed 48 home runs and 208 RBIs during his first two seasons in the majors, including 29 homers in 2006 and a .293 average in 2007.

The Braves are counting on him to bounce back and help lift an outfield that had a major league-low 27 homers in 2008.

“Frenchy had a good day,” manager Bobby Cox said Wednesday. “He does look much better.”

In three plate appearances Wednesday, he lined a single to left, hit a hard RBI single through the infield and a sacrifice fly to center.

During a three-day November tutorial with Rangers hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo in Texas, Francoeur changed the position of his hands, opened his stance a bit and widened his feet. The changes were to simplify his approach, improve his balance and help him see the ball better.

Since then he’s gotten advice from Braves hitting coach Terry Pendleton and Jones, the 2008 National League batting champion, who’ve kept an eye on Francoeur in the batting cage and let him know when he’s slipping into old habits.

Despite the modest stats, Francoeur has shown encouraging signs, including hitting more balls to the opposite (right) field, instead of his old pull-first mentality.

And there are the strikeouts, or lack thereof. He has four walks and no strikeouts in 22 at-bats in Grapefruit League games, and no strikeouts in 28 at-bats including games with Panama and Venezuela.

This from a guy who has 430 strikeouts with only 115 walks in 2,149 major league at-bats.

“I like where I’m at,” Francoeur said. “Now it’s just a matter of taking the next three weeks to even get better and better and get my timing down to really get me going.

“The biggest thing I’ve been excited about this spring is my walks. My patience. I’m getting in good hitters’ counts. Today, the couple of times I was 0-2 [no balls, two strikes], I just tried to put the ball in play. That’s twice this year that I’ve gotten sac flies and just got the job done.

“That’s where I struggled last year. I think last year I was so concerned with, you know, getting two or three guys in instead of just getting the guy in from third.

“I think if I continue to do that I’ll be more successful. I’ll end up driving more guys in.”

Francoeur said when Houston’s Lance Berkman and Philadelphia’s Ryan Howard both offered unsolicited compliments about his approach during games the past two days, it was great encouragement.