KC Royals: Dayton Moore Reclamation Projects
By Scott Dillon
Jeff Francoeur: Hit
‘Frenchy’ was a bit of a hit and a bit of a miss. But no matter how poorly he played, he was still a fan favorite. That was just enough to push him to the ‘hit’ side of the fence.
Jeff Francoeur was a bit of a question mark at times for the fans. He was a frustrating hitter who had the ability to hit for average at times although that seemed to fluctuate from good to bad to good every other year. He flashed big power early in his career hitting double digit home runs, including 29 in 2006, during his first five seasons.
Francoeur rebounded nicely in 2011 for the Royals with a slash line of .285/.329/.476 and managed to hit 20 home runs. He also endeared himself to the fans with his generosity in the outfield.
Jeff Francoeur was also known as a superior defender with a cannon for an arm. He racked up 70 outfield assists through his first 5 seasons. to put that into perspective, Alex Gordon has 66 in his last five years. Bottom line: Guy has a hose for an arm. He was also durable playing in 162 games in both 2006 and 2007.
Francoeur had a down year in 2010 with a slash line of only .249/.300/.383. In part of that 2010 season, he was hitting so poorly that he was used primarily as a defensive replacement for the Rangers during their playoff run.
Francoeur rebounded nicely in 2011 for the Royals with a slash line of .285/.329/.476 and managed to hit 20 home runs. He also endeared himself to the fans with his generosity in the outfield. It should be noted that when I say fans, I don’t just mean Royals’ fans either. He seemed to be loved by everyone’s fans even when playing against them.
His 2010 season was enough to consider him ‘fixed’ as a project, even though his next two seasons were very disappointing. Like I said before, he was on the fence between ‘hit’ and ‘miss’, but Dayton Moore definitely ‘hit’ in the character department. If character is enough to label Tejada a ‘miss’ then it should be enough to label ‘Frenchy’ a hit.
Next: The Other Alex