I remember my very first Mississippi Braves game. There were some guys that I had heard of- Jay Powell, Micheal Rosamond, and Brian McCann, but the one guy that I just had to see was Jeff Francouer. As many of you know, Francouer struggled during much of his time in Pearl. In fact, the game I saw, he didn't get hit, and I think he struck out three times. But nonetheless, I had heard the urban legends from when he was a high school player in Georgia- tells of tape measure home runs, and a rocket launcher for an arm. And while Francouer failed to make contact when I saw him, you could definately tell that he had excellent bat speed. But one play stood out to me- a player for the Mobile Baybears hit a bloop single to right field very close to the line. The M-Braves had the outfield shaded to the left, and Francouer made an excellent effort to get a glove on the ball- few would have even gotten there, but then the Baybear player got greedy. The player made a wide turn and was about to head to second base when Francouer jumps to his feet, gets the ball and was about to the throw the ball to second when the runner stopped dead in his tracks as Francouer brought his arm back. The runner tried to scurry back to first- and then what became a very good baseball play became the incredible- right at the instant that the runner attempted to get back to first, Francouer's arm recoiled and in one motion turns and launches a missle to first that gunned down the runner. I would have clapped if I wasn't picking up my jaw from off of the floor. It wasn't just a Major League play, it was a Web Gem.
Before long, Francouer was in Atlanta and he was hitting an even .300 with 14 home runs and finishing third in the Rookie of the Year Award vote. It looked like the beginning of a long career with Francouer, the local boy, becoming the face of the franchise he pulled for all of his life. The next year, 2006 seemed like the first of many great seasons- 29 home runs, 103 RBI's, and a .260 Avg. Francouer followed that up with a 19 home run, 105 RBI season and a .293 Avg and a Gold Glove Award in 2007. And then Francouer mysteriously went from this:
To this:
In 2008, Francouer dropped dramatically to 11 home runs, 71 RBI's, and a .239 AVG., and a demotion to Pearl for the Fourth of July,which was referenced a couple of days ago on this blog, and beard for good luck. 2009 has only seen very slight improvement 5 home runs, 35 RBI's and a .250 Avg. The golden boy that Braves fans so loved a few years ago, has now been traded to the Mets for Ryan Church, and many of those same Braves fans are rejoicing.
So, what happened? My theory is that Francouer, who is still a very young player, simply got complacent with where he was in the game, and simply didn't work hard enough at it to continue to reach his maximum potential. One thing the average fan doesn't get to see is just how hard it is to play at the Major League level. There really is no off season. When it's the off-season, you have to work out, run, lift weights, and then on top of that, you have to work on your game. Of course, these players continue to work on those things during the season to. Playing at the Major League level is about constantly making adjustments to make yourself better. It is about staying one step ahead of the competition. Those that make the adjustments stay, and those that don't go to AAA. I began to suspect that something was amiss with the Braves and Francouer when he was sent down to AA last season to "work on his swing". It was also known that Francouer was not real happy with the move. I think the truth is the Atlanta Braves were sending Francouer a message to start working or go home. Unfortuantely, it was too late.
Maybe Francouer felt like he was untouchable, since he was 21 when he was annointed as the new face of the franchise. He even had a documentary made about his life when he was only 23, which was mainly high school high lights, and commentary from his wife, who basically admitted that she only hooked up with Francouer after she realized that he had a chance to be a Major League baseball player after launching a moon shot to win the Georgia State Baseball Championship. The documentary is full of unintentional comedy such as- a 23 year old going back to his roots and saying, "You know, most of the same teachers that are here now were here when I was in school." Uh, Jeff, that was FIVE YEARS AGO. But anyway, below is a picture of Jeff's Diamond Girl, appropriately pictured riding his back.
If Jeff Francouer fails to reach his potential in baseball, he will hardly be the first to do so, but it's no less sad to see it happen. If he can somehow learn to cut down on his strikeouts and be more selective at the plate- he has struck out at least 111 times in each of his full seasons in the Big Leagues and his highest walk total was 42. Over his career, Francouer has averaged 122 strikeouts and 33 walks a year. I also think that a change of scenery could potentially help him out as well, even though it is New York, which can be notoriously brutal. And I think the Atlanta Braves did the best thing for them- they have Brandon Jones and Jason Heyward on the horizon in the very near future, and Ryan Church, who Francouer was traded for is a solid player, but for Francouer's sake, I hope we see more jaw dropping plays- in the field and at the plate- than head-hanging moments like I had on the 4th of July last year when he grounded out to end the game.
No comments:
Post a Comment