I have seen a lot of posts on Twitter this year about Jeff Francoeur—about how terrible he is and how he should never play another game. I always find a way to defend him, if possible. The main reason is that I don’t think the naysayers were saying that at the start of the season when he was on fire.
Originally, the plan was for Carlos Beltran to be in center field when he returned, with Francoeur and Angel Pagan alternating in right field.
Jerry Manuel apparently changed his plans. Now Pagan will be the everyday right fielder, with Francoeur playing when the opposing team sends out a lefty starting pitcher. That made quite a few Mets fans happy.
Francoeur is such an interesting character. He did great to earn starts with Atlanta, then just fell off the chart until he got traded to the Mets for Ryan Church (who I never heard about again except to hear about how terrible the trade was).
Last year in 82 games with Atlanta, Francoeur went 76-for-304 (.250) with five home runs, 12 walks, 46 strikeouts, and 35 runs batted in.
In 75 games with the Mets, Francoeur went 95-for-289 (.311), with 10 home runs, 11 walks, 46 strikeouts, and 41 runs batted in.
This year, however, he has dropped off again; well, not in power at least. In 86 games, he has gone 74-for-293 (.253), with eight home runs, 19 walks (almost his whole total from last year), 53 strikeouts, and 42 runs batted in.
I saw these statistics, and knowing Francoeur was acquired a few days before the All-Star Game last year (he was acquired on July 10, the All-Star Game was July 14), I decided to see if there were statistics that showed a pre- and post-All-Star break difference.
There are. In his career before the All-Star break, he has played 442 games, hitting .259 with 51 home runs, 79 walks, 309 strikeouts, and 249 runs batted in. After the All-Star Break, he has played 350 games, hitting .282, with 45 home runs, 78 walks, 266 strikeouts, and 193 runs batted in.
Looking at those statistics, I decided to go even deeper, month by month. So far, the month-by-month comparison has been accurate, except for two months that seemed to have switched places.
This year in April, he went 23-for-81 (.284), with four home runs, nine walks, 10 strikeouts, and 13 runs batted in. In his career for the month of April, he is hitting .271, with 18 home runs, 84 runs batted in, 27 walks, and 68 strikeouts.
In May of this year, he went 20-for-95 (.211) with one home run, 14 runs batted in, five walks, and 21 strikeouts. In his career for the month of May, he is hitting .249, with 13 home runs, 76 runs batted in, 22 walks, and 109 strikeouts.
June and July have seemed to switched, though we are only halfway into July. This year in June, he went 26-for-84 (.310), with three home runs, 14 runs batted in, three walks, and 14 strikeouts. In his career for the month of June, he is hitting .259, with 13 home runs, 64 runs batted in, 26 walks, and 94 strikeouts. His strong month of June went pretty much under the radar this year.
So far in July of this year, Francoeur is hitting 5-for-33 (.152), with zero home runs, one run batted in, two walks, and eight strikeouts. For his career in the month of July, he is hitting .288, with 19 home runs, 76 runs batted in, 19 walks, and 88 strikeouts.
If his past is any indication as to how he will do in the second half this year, Francoeur should have a good second half. Too bad he will have fewer chances to prove it.
Flushing Baseball Daily reporter, Tyler Moore. Follow Tyler on Twitter, where he’ll discuss Mets, and also his posts. If you wish to email him, send an email to Tyler with the subject of Flushing Baseball Daily Mail. Thanks for reading!
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