July 04, 2008
Francoeur Falls Down
Jeff Francoeur returned to the minor leagues after being booed by Braves fans:
Francoeur was booed at home Thursday night when he went 0-for-4. He hit .206 in June and is 1-for-12 in three games this month.
"It seems I can't catch a break, or when I feel I start to roll I just can't get things to keep rolling my way," Francoeur said.
The Braves hope Francoeur can relax at Double-A Mississippi and sharpen his mechanics. The plan is for Francoeur to rejoin the team following the All-Star break.
Francoeur has always been an out machine, with a career OBA of .313. He's only drawn 96 walks in 1884 career at bats. In 2007, it looked like he made progress, drawing 42 free passes. With both his batting average and power abandoning him this season, the few walks he draws don't help much. I really wonder if pitchers finally figured out how to exploit Jeff's tendency to swing at pitches. Why throw a strike to a batter who doesn't care to take a ball?
Posted by David Pinto at
12:17 PM
|
Players
|
TrackBack (0)
Since we get the Braves here on FoxSouth, Peachtree TV network and SportsSouth I have seen a lot of Braves games this year and I have seen Francoeur end scoring chance after scoring chance by making outs and ending rallies.
I still like Francoeur though and feel sorry about him being booed but fans are paying his salary and have every right to boo him.
francoeur is my favorite player to yell at from the 4th row of right field at cbp.
he yells back in good fun and is always tossing balls up for the kids. i'll miss him.
Francoeur wasn't producing, but he's a scapegoat for the entire Braves outfield. Among the regular OF's Kotsay has the best OPS at an underwhelming .746. Just about all the outer defense guys on the Braves are hitting pretty much as badly as Francoeur.
A couple of years back, Sports Illustrated had Jeff F as an almost there star. Too bad his batting tailed off as he is a local boy and a Gold Glover.
I seem to recall Joe Sheehan at Baseball Prospectus pegged Francoeur as being primed for a breakout season in '08. I think it's partly because so many people expected great things from him that his slide has been so disappointing. Let's hope he gets back on track in Double-A and is back with the Braves fairly soon.
Like Chipper Jones said this is first time Jeff has struggled. Everything came easy at first but now he has to correct what is wrong with his swing.
