ST. PETERSBURG – No, the Rays aren’t worried about a few games without a hit from Wander Franco.
Franco, the best prospect in all of baseball, debuted in style in the majors on Tuesday taking an impressive walk on his first trip to the plate, hitting a three-run homer to tie the game in the fifth inning and hitting a double. against the left field wall in the seventh. But the 20-year-old ambidextrous struck out with five strikeouts in his next 16 at-bats before the final game of the series against the Angels on Sunday at Tropicana Field.
Three of Franco’s five strikeouts came in Thursday’s game against the Red Sox, his first three-swing game in professional baseball. Either way, Franco has managed to put in some pretty impressive shifts, like the one that ended on a bases loaded walk in the seventh inning of the 13-3 thrashing of the Rays on Saturday night. And six of the 14 balls he put into play qualified as hard hits, with a muzzle velocity of at least 95 mph, according to Statcast. Only two of those ended in hits: the home run and debut double.
“Nothing that worries us,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “On Friday, he narrowly missed the ball against a southpaw and hit a fly ball to left. On Saturday he took another fly to the left. He hit a ball really hard and the right fielder made a good play on him. “
“If you keep hitting the ball like this, you will find holes. But we are not concerned in the least. Happy to have you here. “
Franco has two hits, two walks and zero strikeouts in eight trips to the plate against lefties and is 13-0 with his five strikeouts against right-handers. He fared better against lefties at Triple-A Durham starting the season, but he’s the best prospect in all of baseball for a reason. He destroyed right-handed pitchers in the minors in 2018 (1.062 OPS) and 2019 (.921 OPS). And in Durham he left a .900 OPS against lefties.
Cash also praised Franco for the way he has bounced back from defensive mistakes. The shortstop struggled to make a play Saturday against a Taylor Ward ground ball, but then got up in the fifth with a nice play and later joined Brandon Lowe for a double-play in the eighth.
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