FanPost

Update: Francoeur Seeing 20/20

About a month ago, DanielSmith presented the notion that Francoeur appeared to be on pace to hit  20 HR and steal 20 bases this season. 

The Frenchman really heated up at the end of the month, putting up 5 SB, but still only 3 HR for July.  We are actually at the exact 2/3 mark through the season, so his current 14 HR & 18 SB projects out to 21 HR & 27 SB (and 93 RBI, and 45 walks, which would be a career high) using straight arithmetic.

Frenchy's career splits actually show a spike in HR in July before tailing back off for the remainder of the season.  ZiPS projects it coming down to the wire with 20 HR and 22 SB (89 RBI, 42 BB).   It's very possible that the expected career split will come back and sap Jeff's power in the dog days of summer.

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via cache.daylife.com


Why does any of this matter?  More than a dozen players join the fabled 20/20 club some years, you say?  Matt Kemp is there already, and Curtis Granderson and Ryan Braun are one steal away with 1/3 of the games left on the slate?

Because it's exactly the sort of thing that the Royals management and media troupe will throw out there whenever asked about what Jeff brings to the ballclub.  How much you wanna bet we'll hear Yost at some point describe Francoeur as a "real leader of this ball club who gave us 20 and 20 last year"?

I personally think he'll fall short and finish with something like 18 HR & 24 SB.  However, if 20/20 is obtained, a contract extension is clearly in sight for Francoeur.

This FanPost was written by a member of the Royals Review community. It does not necessarily reflect the views of the editors and writers of this site.