Philadelphia Phillies: Concerns for the early season remain

The Focus Problem Children

Number 5 – Maikel Franco, 3B: Simply put, Franco’s numbers fell off a cliff last year, and they have to climb that cliff again this season. He slashed .230/.281/.409, fully 17, 19 and 15 points below his career numbers with those woeful figures included. The infielder is pretty able defensively, and he won’t turn 26 until late in August, but improvement at the plate is demanded at this point.

Franco didn’t come close to passing the proverbial eye test last season far too often. He flailed; he appeared to have no plan; maybe he gave up sometimes. Whatever it was alone or in combination, he looked terrible. Mar. 13 against the Rays in Tampa, however, he looked good at the plate, with a home run to left and a hard single to right. Will he look that good the next time he bats?

Number 4 – Odubel Herrera, CF: Although less worrisome offensively than Franco, Herrera also loses focus at the plate, and sometimes on the bases with semi-appalling results. He is an even better player defensively than Franco, and doesn’t actually seem to lose his focus ever in the field. This may be more important this season than last, though, as he may have to cover the inexperienced Hoskins in the left-center field gap.

It would be nice to see Herrera also be a bit more selective at the plate, which he has shown he can do, but only in for a while. The three adjectives that apply to this player are talented, goofy, and streaky. He’s inconsistent enough to be a bigger problem, potentially, because his talent doesn’t exactly say it’s this year or never. He’s going to be around.