thoughts on Jeff Francoeur?

[pacino]

I ask because as a baseball fan in general I find him to be the most frustrating player in the league. It's obvious that the talent is there, and yet the dude just WON'T take a pitch, and he tries to pull everything he sees. It seems like he thinks he's Vlad. Anyway, here is my full thoughts on him, wondering what some Braves fans thought:
hugetinymistake.wordpress.com/2006/08/07/jeff-francoeur-good-guy-bad-hitter/

He's still young, of course, but it seems like this year has been a lost year in his development. Not sure what's the cause, maybe those closer can sharpen the picture.

[nesince92]

Sounds about like me when I used to play baseball. Swing... at... everything.

[shimmeroo roo]

I feel like Francoeur is gonna be the next Andruw Jones without the ridiculously good defense. I mean, we've been hearing about Francoeur since he was a teenager. He's got all the "tools" and talent and blah blah blah. How many "tools" guys have come through the Braves system, though? Just because the talent is there doesn't mean it will add up. Remember how Andruw was always gonna have a breakthrough season? Well, he never did become a consisten .300+ hitter. In fact, he was kind of a disappointment, as his defense went from stellar to almost middle of the road. That's how I feel things are going to stack up with Francoeur.

[Patronus]

My biggest worry with Francoeur is that people are going to stop pitching to him at some point. Personally, I don't like hitters like Francoeur - the feast or famine aspect of that style just irritates me. I'll root for him to succeed since he is on my team, but he is the last guy I want up with the game on the line.

I do find it interesting that while Francoeur is getting the magazine covers, Delta commercials and keys to the city - McCann is quietly becoming the "next big thing" on that team.

[TyPenn613]

Not a big surprise, "Chicks did the longball." McCann's OPS is about 250 points higher and isn't known by half the league.

[shimmeroo roo]

I heart OPS. It's the best stat in baseball. And I like McCann a lot and HATE the long ball.

[pacino]

Well, it's not the best as in most accurate, it's the easiest to understand and yet still be fairly accurate. It still overrates slugging, because it's much more likely to get a high slugging percentage than a high OBP like 700.

[TyPenn613]

There are many flaws in it, but if anything those flaws would have been working against McCann. When there is an error dealing with it, it tends to favor the high profile power hitters who don't reach base enough, aka Jeff Franceour.