Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
March 03, 2008
Talking the Walk

Jeff Francoeur sat down with Ken Rosenthal and he's saying the right things:

Q: Why did you put on the weight?

A: Home runs. To be able to drive the ball. I think I've given up on the idea that I'm going to steal 30 or 40 bags a year. I'm really looking to put my last two seasons together and have a big year this year. I don't think there's any reason I can't.

I made huge strides offensively last year in (plate) discipline. Talking to Glav (Tom Glavine), we were playing golf down here, he just said how differently the Mets pitched me in the last two years. Compared to 2006, last year they said, "We've got to start throwing him strikes. We've got to pitch him. We just can't throw it up there."

For me, that's good. I'm making pitchers think more, forcing them to throw strikes. I don't think there's any reason I shouldn't hit 30 to 35 home runs.

Q: How much are you still focused on improving your plate discipline?

A: My goal has been to go 10 or 15 walks up in the next two or three years, every year. Last year, I had 42 (up from 23 in '06). This year, I want to get to about 60 or so and keep moving up.

I would love to walk about 80 times a year. I know I'm too aggressive to get into the 100 range. But to be able to do that would be something that would be big for me. And that's when I will be able to hit .310, that kind of average.

The history of baseball is littered with players who never came to appreciate what selectivity at the plate can do to improve their game. It's great to see Jeff understand this weakness in his game and work to improve it.

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Posted by David Pinto at 12:59 PM | Players | TrackBack (0)
Comments

There's a reason I've been high on Francouer's long-term prospects even as I was skeptical of him in the short run. A guy that young can learn.

Posted by: Crank at March 3, 2008 02:43 PM

Cubs are showcasing Ronny Cedeno for the O's today. He is leading off and playing CF.

Posted by: Chris at March 3, 2008 03:42 PM

It's not just learning - you have to retrain your body and adjust the mechanics of your swing - you have to reduce your timing mechanism so you can wait on close pitches -

Posted by: Bandit at March 4, 2008 08:55 AM
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