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He's not gonna take it: Jeff Francoeur's aggressive approach at the plate has made him a leading contender for N.L. Rookie of the Year

Sporting News, The, Sept 23, 2005 by Ray Glier

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In late July, the Nationals' Sun-Woo Kim delivered Francoeur an ankle-high changeup that he golfed over the center field wall at Turner Field. Nine days later, the Cardinals' Jason Isringhausen offered up a breaking ball that was 3 inches off the plate and Francoeur lashed it to right-center for a double.

Francoeur, quickly becoming accustomed to having his approach questioned, grins when he is asked about it. He is not offended if people think he doesn't have an idea at the plate because his job is not to be selective but to drive in runs. "I'm a different hitter than Chipper Jones," Francoeur says. "He goes up looking for certain pitches to hit. I'm going up there looking for something over the plate and trying to hit it hard."

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Well, it might be over the plate, but it also might be over the plate at his ankles or over the plate at his neck.

"A good bad-ball hitter, that's what I call him," Braves catcher Eddie Perez says. "Those guys like him you don't want to face. Where's the hole?" Perez starts mapping the plate with his hands and an imaginary strike zone. "He hits it up here, down there, out there, in here," Perez says.

Big-league pitchers are figuring that out, too. In their first encounter, Nationals righthander Esteban Loaiza challenged Francoeur, and he had two hits in three at-bats. When they met a month later, Loaiza mixed up his selections and held Francoeur hitless in two at-bats.

WHAT A SURPRISE

If big-league pitchers were baffled early on by Francoeur, they weren't alone. Scouts admit being surprised by his sudden breakthrough. Francoeur hit only .275 with 13 homers in his 84 games with the Class AA Mississippi Braves. A month into his major league debut, he was at .403.

"I saw him the week before he was called up, and my boss asked me, 'What do you think of this guy,' and I said he wasn't ready," says one scout. "He gets here and starts hitting home runs, and my boss said, 'I thought you said he wasn't ready.'"

'I think he's one of those guys that the better competition he plays, the better he plays. Those are the kind of guys you love," says another scout.

So has Francoeur arrived?

"I'm with Ned Yost," said one of the scouts. "He said let's wait and see what he does the second time around the league."

The second time Yost and the Brewers got a crack at Francoeur, he had a 3-for-12 series and struck out four times. Except for Houston, every team the Braves might face in the postseason will be getting at least its second shot at Francoeur.

"I don't think this will continue in the playoffs," says another. "He's going to see just the No. 1, the No. 2 or the No. 3 pitcher, guys like (Chris) Carpenter and (Roy) Oswalt. He's not going to see the 4 and 5 guys who will make mistakes to him. But you have to love his upside. He's going to be a very good player."

Based on the early returns, he already is.

The Braves have plenty more where Francoeur came from

He's not gonna take it: Jeff Francoeur's aggressive approach at the plate has made him a leading contender for N.L. Rookie of the Year

Sporting News, The, Sept 23, 2005 by Ray Glier

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