One Week In, Francisco Shines

By Amy McCormick

On July 29, 2009, we landed Cliff Lee for the first time.  In that deal, we also obtained Ben Francisco, then 27 years old.  In 2007 and 2008, the righty outfielder posted batting averages of .274 and .266, respectively.  In 2009, he played 39 games for Philadelphia and batted .278 with an .843 OPS.  In 2010, he played 88 games, but his numbers declined. 

With the departure of Jayson Werth imminent, a lot of us wondered what would happen in right field.  Would Ruben have an in-house solution? Was a trade going to happen?  Was I going to get called in?  We’d all be in trouble.  I’ve got a cannon but I couldn’t catch a cold.  November came and went, and there was still no word on who would fill the hole in our lineup.  Enter Cliff Lee … again.  It was at that point, when we acquired Lee for the second time, that I was fairly certain – right field would be filled by an existing Phillie. 

I’ll be honest.  I had hopes that Domonic Brown and Ben Francisco would each bring their A Games to Spring Training and battle for the spot.  It seems that Dom didn’t really get that memo, but Francisco lit up the Grapefruit League.  Suddenly, things started to look as if they were falling into place.  A right handed bat in right field … it might be crazy enough that it just might work. 

Here we are, six games into the season, and Ben Francisco is making a name for himself.  Allow me to put something into perspective (and yes, I know that six games is a tiny sample size).  Thus far in 2011, Ben has 8 hits, 2 homeruns, a .320 batting average and .970 OPS.  Jayson Werth has 6 hits, 1 homerun, a .273 batting average, and .953 OPS.  Some people will say that "Francisco is good, but he’s no Werth.” While that might be true, we should remember that Werth started in right field as part of a platoon with Geoff Jenkins, and wasn’t exactly stellar out of the gate.  Francisco is 29, which, on this team, is young.  With some experience, and the tremendous talent that he’s showing, why couldn’t he be the next Jayson Werth?  For the record, I sort of hate that I’ve used Werth’s name six times in this post.

I look forward to a great season from Francisco.  I’d like to see a little more range in the field, but he is impressing me so far.  He seems to fit into the lineup with ease and he seems to know that even though he started in right field on Opening Day, the job isn’t entirely his.  I like watching him work for it, though.  Complacency will get you nowhere, and he seems to understand that.  I absolutely think that Ben Fran has what it takes to be Philadelphia’s right fielder.  He’s proof that sometimes, the solution is in the clubhouse, and we don’t need to go shopping elsewhere.