Renewed Francoeur on deck

For the first time in his life, Jeff Francoeur is an unknown commodity.

Atlanta has known what it would get from its native son since he starred in football and baseball at Parkview High School, rose rapidly through the minor leagues as a first-round draft pick of the Braves and slugged his way onto the cover of Sports Illustrated his rookie season in the majors.

Last season changed all that. And it changed him, too.

A .239 batting average will do that. So will boos and blogs, radio call-in shows and, of course, the midseason demotion to the minors.

For all of Francoeur’s fruitless trips to the plate with the bases loaded, for all of the head-sinking trips back to the bench, that July night was rock bottom. The can’t-miss kid went home to his wife, Catie, and cried.

“I just had so many emotions running through my mind, there was nothing left to do but cry,” said Francoeur, who spent three days in Mississippi and three more months in Atlanta trying to find his old form. “You feel embarrassed. You’re thinking after three years, what are people going to think?”

After three months to unwind and regroup, people wonder what to think now, too. Will Francoeur be back to the player he was during back-to-back 100 RBI seasons or the guy who looked lost last summer?

Francoeur thinks they’ll see neither. “I think I’m going to be a totally different player than people have seen, even in my couple good years when I drove in 100,” Francoeur said. “[I’m] not trying to go out there and prove that I belong, because I know I belong. For me it’s a matter of trying to take it to the next level and be a franchise player.”

What makes him think things will be so different? Changes he made this offseason to his stance. After nonstop tinkering last summer, Francoeur has locked into one approach he thinks will work. Using some advice and video recommended by former Braves Mark DeRosa and Mark Teixeira, Francoeur adopted a more balanced position at the plate, with his hands farther back and a shorter stride. He has been working it into his muscle memory, hitting four times a week since Nov. 15.

Braves third baseman Chipper Jones likes the look of what Francoeur has been doing at Jones’ indoor hitting facility in Suwanee. “His weight distribution is right where it needs to be, and his mindset is right where it needs to be,” Jones said. “His mindset is from gap to gap. You can’t be out on your front foot the way he was all year last year, and head moving up and down, and his stride was too long, and thinking about pulling the ball around the left-field foul pole. His weight distribution is allowing him to think right-center to left-center, and he is killing balls, just absolutely crushing it.

“If what he’s doing now translates to game-time at-bats, then he’s going to have a really good year,” Jones said.

When Francoeur reports to spring training next month, he’ll be about 220 pounds, 15 lighter than when he reported last year. He’ll have thicker skin, too. His days of browsing fan comments online are fewer and farther between.

“You can’t please everybody,” Francoeur said. “That’s one thing I’ve learned.”

Francoeur lets the negative get drowned out by people who approach him at Fellowship of Christian Athletes banquets where he speaks or at Perimeter Church in Duluth, which he attends.

“I can’t tell you how many people come up and say, ‘We’re praying for you this year,’ ” Francoeur said. “That means more to me than some guy on a blog ripping me to pieces.”

Francoeur also has toughened to the possibility of playing for another team. His name was mentioned in persistent trade rumors this offseason with Kansas City. Francoeur, who is eligible for arbitration for the first time this year, knows the closer he gets to free agency without signing a long-term contract, the more likely he could leave.

He watched with regret as his close friend and golfing buddy John Smoltz left for Boston. But before that, he got versed in the business of baseball on a golf course with DeRosa on New Year’s Eve. Francoeur, Jones, Brian McCann and DeRosa were on the second hole when DeRosa got a call that the Cubs had traded him to Cleveland.

“I see how easy it is to get traded,” Francoeur said. “He was the heart and soul of the Cubs last year, a guy you probably wouldn’t think would get traded. He said, ‘I missed a 5-foot putt on No. 2 as a Cub and I smoked a drive down the middle as an Indian on No. 3.’ “

DeRosa was upset, Francoeur said, but he didn’t want to let it ruin his day. That stayed with Francoeur.

“I don’t worry about that, I really don’t,” Francoeur said of a possible trade. “Of course I want to stay here. I love playing in Atlanta. That’s where I grew up, but at the same time I just want to play.”

Francoeur and the Braves were $1.15 million apart when the sides exchanged salary-arbitration figures Tuesday. The Braves offered $2.8 million for 2009; he asked for $3.95 million.

Last year could cost him in arbitration, but Francoeur isn’t dwelling on it.

“Last year was tough,” he said. “But at the same time, I think it’ll only help me in the long run.”