Comments on: Putting Francoeur in Perspective

By: Steve Geddie

Steve Geddie — Mon, 07 Aug 2006 04:46:57 +0000

I’m a lifelong Braves fan, so it pains me to see postings like this one. However, JC’s observations happen to be correct (even more painful). I am so sick of hearing how Francoeur has these great “intangibles”, “the makeup”, etc. The guy is a hacker, pure and simple. I’d love to see a side-by-side comparison of his numbers when he swings at the first pitch versus when he takes the first pitch. Having watched many, many Braves games, I’d be willing to bet that the difference is striking (no pun intended).

By: Wally Dykstra

Wally Dykstra — Thu, 13 Jul 2006 20:25:05 +0000

4. This article also failed to mention Francouer’s ranking in MLB with 2-out RBI’s
5. This article aslo failed to mention his BA with RISP.

These are “clutch” stats which reflect more luck than talent.

By: Andre

Andre — Tue, 11 Jul 2006 12:29:11 +0000

As a fantasy baseball owner of Francouer, I have had this conversation many times when entertaining trade talks.

1. The kid, yes kid is 22, so please, I don’t think this is the end-all to his career.

2. I point out Jose Reyes as prime example of how quickly plate discipline can turn around as well.

3. He’s the 6th place hitter, in all honesty you don’t want your 6th place hitter walking 90 times, we do as stat geeks, but in reality a 6th place hitter on pace for 30+HR’s, & 100+RBI’s is golden.

4. This article also failed to mention Francouer’s ranking in MLB with 2-out RBI’s
5. This article aslo failed to mention his BA with RISP.

Tho I found this article informative, there’s just waaay too many holes, & again given his age, lineup protection, & production, wether it can be better or not isn’t the point, the point is he is producing, like most said he wouldn’t.

True, you’d love to see a 900 OPS, but I find it hard to argue with a 22 year old, in Atlanta a proven winner, with all that pressure, performing the way he right now….Andre’

By: Noah

Noah — Sat, 08 Jul 2006 23:42:54 +0000

Marc says “The organization clearly doesn’t take OBP very seriously.” With the success the Braves have had, at least prior to this year, I have to wonder: Should anyone? You can preach OPS all you want, but where’s the proof that it actually means anything at all in terms of wins and losses?

By: Rick

Rick — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 03:17:43 +0000

Nice post. It seems like all that people see are the RBI/HR numbers and can’t see the forest for the trees. He’s destined to be an historic footnote in MLB if he doesn’t learn plate discipline.

By: John

John — Sat, 01 Jul 2006 22:32:42 +0000

Francouer revisited:

From ProTrade: “A handful of Braves regulars have been unlucky thus far,led by the free swinging Jeff Francouer. While statheads argue that Francouer cannot be successful at the major league level without learning better plate discipline (he sports an ugly 10/63 BB/K ratio), his numbers wouldn’t be quite as alarming if his average was .273, as would be expected, rather than .248. Even then, he’d still have an unremarkable on base percentage of.296.”

(source: http://www.protrade.com/content/DisplayArticle.html?sp=Se16e60f4-07d4-11db-bd55-6738f121e598&x=x)

By: Marc

Marc — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 14:04:52 +0000

The problem is that Francoeur reflects the Braves organizational philosophy. They like aggressive hitters. Other than Chipper (and maybe Justice), all the hitters the Braves have produced in recent years are from the same mold–aggressive, not eager to take walks, and strike out a lot. The organization clearly doesn’t take OBP very seriously. I wouldn’t be surprised if they drafted Jeff BECAUSE he was aggressive with the idea that he would develop enough plate discipline later. But I agree with the commenter above that I really question how much you can learn plate discipline.

By: Colin

Colin — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 13:08:32 +0000

This is my problem too, Damian. By giving him the most playing time on the team, they’re just rewarding his overaggressiveness. He’ll have no real motivation to change if the team thinks he’s actually helping them by hitting this way.

By: Damien

Damien — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 23:09:59 +0000

Francoeur is agressive by nature. But the problem is that the Braves hitting coach, Terry Pendleton said he wanted Francoeur to stay agressive. How do you want him to improve his patience when his hitting coach tells him to swing at everything in the zone ?

By: Colin

Colin — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 16:55:59 +0000

Interesting overview. Do any of these numbers include outs made not at the plate? That is, Francoeur has also managed to take himself off base 5 times being caught stealing, and he has sacrifice flies and GDPs in there too.