posted July 2, 2008
) Photo by Tim Evearitt Jeff Francoeur |
Because the National League East first-place Phillies sent Brett Myers back to the Minors on Tuesday with the hope that he'd regain his successful pitching form, there was at least some talk at Turner Field on Wednesday regarding the possibility of Francoeur encountering the same fate.
While a team official at least confirmed there has been discussion about sending Francoeur to the Minors to rediscover his lost swing, there was no indication that this was an imminent possibility.
One primary reason that the Braves haven't shipped Francoeur back to the Minors is the potential backlash they might receive from their fans, who have remained faithful to No. 7, despite the fact that he entered Wednesday night's game against the Phillies hitting just .239 with a .294 on-base percentage and .383 slugging percentage. He is one of the most popular players on the team.
After going 0-for-4 (including three strikeouts) in Wednesday night's game, Francoeur heard an increasing number of boos from fans. His average fell to just .236.
The only three qualified NL outfielders with a lower OPS (on-base plus-slugging-percentage) than Francoeur's mark of .677 are Houston's Michael Bourn, Los Angeles' Juan Pierre and Colorado's Willy Taveras, who are all known primarily for their speed.
After hitting .293 last year, Francoeur entered this season hoping to keep that consistency, while improving his power and bidding for a third consecutive season with at least 100 RBIs.
But in his past 72 games entering Wednesday, the 24-year-old outfielder had hit .229 with a .291 on-base percentage and a .351 slugging percentage. There was some hope that he was turning the corner when he recorded consecutive multihit games on June 12-13.
But over the next 16 games, Francoeur hit .138 with a .206 on-base percentage and a .155 slugging percentage.
"It's tough to see him go through it," McCann said. "But you see what kind of guy you are when you are struggling, and he's still trying to stay upbeat. Everybody around here knows that he's working as hard as he can. It would be one thing if he wasn't at least trying."
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Adapted from MLB.com
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