Jeff Francoeur came into the Spring Training in the best shape of his professional life, and expectations of an All-Star caliber season. So far that’s been anything but true for the 24 year-old. Hitting .247 with only 8 home runs, Francoeur has been a fantasy stinker so far. He’s been moved down to the seventh spot in the Braves order and even hit in the nine hole in an interleague game at an AL ballpark. Francoeur rarely walks, so when he’s not hitting the ball, he’s not contributing in any offensive stat columns.
But I do have good news (No I didn’t save a bunch of money on car insurance). Francoeur has some very fascinating split stats. In 2008 he has been a dangerous during day games and flat out awful at night. Interestingly enough, on Monday, his vision was examined, and he was prescribed contact lenses that will help his night vision. His poor vision is believed to be a result of getting hit in the face on a bunt attempt during a 2004 minor league game. With the new contact lenses, we can expect to see Francoeur’s stat line to look a little bit more like this .320 with 5 homers (in only 103 daytime at bats) and a little less like his .210 average with 3 home runs (in 205 night game at bats).
If all else fails, Francoeur would absolutely thrive in the Alaskan Baseball League. With 20 plus hours of sunlight, games start as late as midnight without aid from artificial light sources.
2 Comments
June 26, 2008 at 11:24 am
Its not just the stats of Francoeur that show that he stinks at night games, it is noticable that he plays better in day games
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June 26, 2008 at 5:52 pm
Nice analysis on Jeff “ballpark” Francoeur. I just mentioned him to but I didn’t dig that hard. Just that the new contact lenses should help tremendously. Nice.