Just How Bad Was Jeff Francoeur Last Year?

If you asked Braves manager Bobby Cox what he thought of Jeff Francoeur's 2006 season he would probably say something about Frenchie being a gamer, a superb right fielder, and a guy that drove in over 100 RBI. Those reasons must be why Cox allowed Francoeur to step into the box a team leading 686 times. Obviously, part of that is due to his ability to stay healthy, but a lot of it falls on the false hope that Francoeur provides.

Francoeur obviously has great talent. He has fantastic throwing arm, he can run, he can hit with power and he can sometimes hit pitches hard that he has no business hitting that hard, let alone swinging at. That is where Francoeur becomes a liability.

Of the 686 plate appearances that Frenchie had in 2006, only 17 resulted in him taking four balls that weren't intentional. He stepped into the batters box 686 times and only had 17 unintentional walks! Are you kidding me?

Now I know that Frenchie thinks that as long as he is sporting a .300 OBP then he is in good shape but c'mon now Jeff. Last year Frenchie hit .260/.293/.449. Now those are some numbers less than to be desired. Obviously his OBP is terrible but his slugging percentage is not all that great and his iso power percentage is only .189, and considering he is playing a corner outfield position, both of those numbers should be higher. So the question is why is he out there? He doesn't get on base or walk which saps some his power potential because he is always swinging his way out of favorable counts.

Of the twenty nine home runs that Francoeur hit in 2006, 10 came on the first pitch of the plate appearance and 10 came when he was ahead in the count. Frenchie should never get a pitch to hit leading off his plate appearance.


And for some reason, people like to compare Frenchie with Vlad Guerrero because of his lack of patience at the plate and his tendency to swing at any pitch. This comparison is an insult to Vladdy. Look at a comparison of their stats below:

By comparing their stats, it is apparent that in theory, Vladdy and Frenchie have the same approach at the plate, swing often. However, by also looking at their stats, it is easy to one glaring difference. Guerrero is a better hitter in every facet. So when people compare Francoeur to Guerrero they are ignoring how unique and how special Guerrero is as a hitter. So Francoeur needs to realize that his style only works for one person: Vladimir Guerrero.


Not only does Francoeur's lack of patience hurt his team when he comes up with men on base but it hurts them also when he leads off an inning. In 2006, when leading off an inning, Francoeur hit in 149 plate appearances at a .250/.274/.424 clip. In comparison when Vladdy led off an inning in 2006 in 141 plate appearances he hit at a .355/.369/.572 clip. So basically the Braves only get two outs when Francoeur leads off an inning. And when Frenchie comes up with two outs he only hits .236/.282/.491 while Guerrero hits .361/.447/.543. So it is either all or nothing for Francoeur, and the all doesn't really show up that much.


So while he may have hit 29 bombs and drove in over 100 RBI he was really not productive for the Braves as he wasn't able to start a lot of rallies by getting on base, or to get anything started for his team when there were two outs. So until Francoeur is able to differentiate balls from strikes he will continue to be a sub par player who can't hit away from Turner Field(.217/.248/.369). Let's just hope that if he doesn't improve, that he won't be getting 686 plate appearances.