Jeff Francoeur: Atlanta Braves 2009 Player Preview

This player preview was written by Joe Lucia, who posts here as bigjoe.

Jeff Francoeur was really bad in 2008. Recently, I was curious as to how bad he was. So I did a little research (more than 20 seconds worth, actually), and came up with a starting conclusions. Jeff Francoeur's 2008 OPS was lower than any corner outfielder's in the past 10 years. That's...frightening to think about.

Francoeur has always been the golden child in Atlanta, growing up locally, playing nearly all of his minor league ball in the south, and of course, his career with the Braves. One thing about Jeff though, is that he has always seemed to lack the ability to lay off bad pitches. In his 3 and a half year career, he's averaged 128 strikeouts and 34 walks, a stellar BB:K of .266. There was a glimmer of hope last season, as his strikeouts slightly decreased and his walks remained relatively constant. Only thing about that is his is power fell off a cliff and his BABIP got hit by a bus, rendering him nearly useless with a bat in his hands.

But then something happened to Jeff this offseason. He started hanging out with Rudy Jaramillo for a little bit, then listened to Chipper for some hitting tips. And this spring...he's been a much different player. In 62 spring at bats, he's got more walks than strikeouts. Of course, he also has less extra base hits than Brooks Conrad, Greg Norton, Matt Diaz, and Clint Sammons. Jeff's on base problem may be solved, but the lack of improvement in his power is a huge red flag. If his power continues to stay in the dumps while his on base and average return to a respectable level, our superstar corner outfielder will start to resemble Randy Winn...and I don't think we really want that.

Another great preview by bigjoe.