Franco's Blast Proves Game Winner; What Is His Future with the Phillies?
A somewhat unlikely hero emerged from the Phillies' shut-out of the Braves yesterday: Maikel Franco. After showing promise in the 2015 season, and being the recipient of praise from Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt during the 2016 preseason, Franco's performance at the plate has been disappointing. With 304 at-bats in 2015, Franco hit .280, with 14 home runs and 50 RBIs. In 2016, with 581 at-bats, his average fell to .255. Despite his 25 home runs and 88 RBIs, Manager Pete Mackanin exclaimed that he wanted to see improvement in Franco in 2017. Instead, Franco's average fell to .231. With six games left in the season, his home run total is 21 and his RBI total is 70. Franco's sub-par offensive performance, and Freddy Galvis' impressive play at shortstop, caused the Phillies to experiment with rookie J.P Crawford. Known for being a shortstop for most of his minor league career, Crawford played a few games near the end of the AAA season at third base. ...