The Phillies announced this morning that they’ve recalled top prospect Maikel Franco from Triple-A Lehigh Valley, giving the power-hitting third baseman a second crack at the Majors after struggling in a late-season debut in 2014. Franco, 22, rated as Baseball America’s No. 56 prospect this offseason, also ranking 55th on MLB.com’s Top 100 and 96th on the Top 101 of Baseball Prospectus.
The Phillies seem intent on giving Franco a shot to become their everyday third baseman, as Cody Asche has already been sent down to Triple-A to work on transitioning to the outfield. That move, as well as Franco’s hefty .355/.384/.539 batting line in 33 Triple-A games helped pave the way for what seems to be a more serious look than the one he received in 2014. Last September, Franco split time Asche at third and with Ryan Howard at first, ultimately hitting just .179/.190/.214 in 16 contests.
Perhaps most interesting about Franco’s promotion, however, is the service time implication that comes along with it. The Cubs’ handling of Kris Bryant in Spring Training this season spurred a good deal of controversy, but the Phillies have effectively taken the same route with Franco. Last September, Franco accrued 27 days of Major League service time in his September cup of coffee. That service time means that he’d have needed just 145 days of service this season to reach the 172 days necessary to be credited with a full year of service time. The Phillies have, likely not in coincidental fashion, promoted Franco at a time when there are only 144 days of the regular season remaining. That means that he, like Bryant, will fall one day shy of a full year of service. Because of that, the earliest that Franco could be eligible for free agency would be following the 2021 season.
GM Ruben Amaro Jr. and the Phillies, of course, aren’t acknowledge that reasoning — no team would openly do so. In a similar manner to the way in which the Cubs’ front office sidestepped the service time factor, Amaro said of today’s promotion: “This was a baseball decision based on Maikel’s development and performance. We believe he is ready for the next step.”
That the Phillies waited to ensure they could delay Franco’s free agency is telling about their hopes for this promotion, however. Clearly, the Phillies believe that Franco is capable of holding down third base long-term; they’ve moved Asche to another position and, if they weren’t serious about this promotion being a long-term move, the service time considerations likely wouldn’t have factored so heavily into their thinking.
It’ll be interesting to see if Franco’s case generates anywhere near the level of drama that Bryant’s case did in late March/early April. That level of controversy admittedly seems unlikely, but Franco’s case nonetheless serves as another example that this type of service time manipulation is a relatively common practice when it comes to the game’s most highly regarded prospects. Looking at the view through the Phillies’ lens, one can hardly blame the team for being willing to give up 40 games of Franco in a rebuilding season in order to control him for an additional year (2021) when they hope to be in a better spot to contend.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Franco has been average at best on defense throughout his time in the minors and has demonstrated tremendous difficulty avoiding the strikeouts. Hopefully Phillie fans don’t bring expectations that are too high for Franco as he’s very likely to go backwards before he adjusts to the Show. Wish him well but don’t be surprised if the strikeouts pile up far quicker than the extra-base hits.
Franco has a 14.7% strikeout rate in his minor league career and a 15% mark at Triple-A.
Franco’s strikeout rates has always been low for a power hitter. Kris Bryant had a strikeout rate of 26.6%. Bryant has a 31.9% strikeout rate this year. Franco’s MLB strikeout rate was 23.2% when he was up, even though he was clearly not ready.
Franco has been a very good defensive 3B in the minors. Last September he couldn’t hit a lick, but was defensively.
If Franco doesn’t make it, it’s unlikely to be strikeouts or defense that will be his weaknesses.
Actually, Franco doesn’t have a big problem striking out. The “problem” with Franco is that he can seemingly make contact with anything – and usually, he turns strikeout pitches into weak grounders or flyballs that are almost always outs.
I’m not sure where you get your information but Franco is considered a sure handed 3B with a strong arm. As for Franco striking out more than he gets extra base hits, that applies to most power hitters. Currently Stanton has 48K’s and 15 XBH’s. Kris Bryant, who was one of the most heralded prospects in years has 37 K’s to 9 XBH’s. This isn’t unusual.
Isn’t that with every top prospect though?
Bryant is doing well–he looks maybe to a 4 bWAR player right now, and certainly that justified a call up. He’s still not Barry Bonds. Even if Franco does as well–and particularly on a losing team with no realistic hope of contending this year, there’s nothing wrong with Philly taking advantage of the rules.
Stop trolling. Comparison to Bryant is not appropriate. Bryant is a blue chipper who had success at all level including against ML competition in the spring. His numbers and the fact that he belonged were not up for debate. Franco is a good player with the potential to be great, but he’s not shown much flash in the spring or in his limited call up last year. Franco is still an “if”.
The comparison has nothing to do with which prospect is superior. It has everything to do the fact that both Maikel Franco and Kris Bryant will finish the season with 171 days of service time, leaving them one single day shy of a full year of service. Of course Bryant is the better prospect, but that’s not the point.
Perhaps the point to be made here, is that the Bryant controversy happened when he DID NOT make the club out of ST, and the Franco situation is being compared when he DID make the club.
Although I don’t really see any harm in the comparison, if nothing else, as a way of looking back, and saying “See, it’s more common than you think.”
I agree. The service time issue was on topic. I just don’t like the author’s line about “level of drama”. That’s baiting. It tries to link the two circumstances beyond the service time consideration. Franco had a short and quiet spring. No one batted an eyelash. We all knew he’d be up at some point this season. Bryant was hitting spectators in the cheap seats all spring and left the Cubs little wiggle room to pander to the regular practice of squeaking an extra year of control.
Suppose the Phillies or Cubs tie for 1st and need to play game 163, then Franco or Bryant would be a super two, no?
As far as I know, Game 163 would not count toward regular season service time, as it doesn’t fall under the 162-game “championship season” (aka regular season) as defined in the Collective Bargaining Agreement. However, they’re going to be Super Two players anyway. This is about delaying a full year of team control, which is different.
gotcha, thanks
So does a super two keep the same free agent timeline, just with one more year of arb replacing a year of pre arb?
Super Two status is defined by examining each year’s group of players with between two and three years of service. The top 22 percent of those players, by service time, are designated as Super Twos.
Franco and Bryant, assuming neither is sent back to the minors, will have two years, 171 days when they’re up for Super Two designation, making them locks to be Super Twos and be arb-eligible four times instead of three.
Thanks for that explanation, people usually jest say ” the top” without explaining what criteria are used in determining so.
Can a prospect be called up without mentioning Kris Bryant? Its over. It happened. Get over it.
I wouldn’t have mentioned Bryant at all if it weren’t for the fact that the Phillies did the exact same thing here with regards to service time. It’s notable, and while I, too, am tired of reading/writing about Bryant’s service time (which I believed to be overblown), it’s still noteworthy that both will wind up one day shy of qualifying for free agency after the 2020 season.
Hardly surprising. Hes the real first piece of the ‘youth movement’ that Philadelphia so desperately needs. Galvis might be an allstar, but hes not gonna hold that level of play.
ot; Do you know the corresponding move? Doesn’t seem like anyone is an obvious candidate.
Probably be whatever reliever was last called up. Going by their transaction page, I’d guess Elvis Araujo.
I don’t like the idea of 1 lefty in the pen. Rather would see Grady Sizemore DFA’d.
I think 99% of Phillies fans would like to see Sizemore DFA’d. Even fans that are not overly fond of Dom Brown would rather see Brown on the team than Sizemore.
Unless they promoted someone else to the 25-man when Cody Asche was optioned to LVIP, that spot would still be open. Both players were already on the 40-man roster, so nothing needed to be done, there.
Sean O’Sullivan was added
Hold Franco down was cause he needed more Triple-A work. he struggled to start there last year and struggled in September. This situation is not comparable to Bryant. You could make an argument he could’ve been up maybe a week or two ago but I don’t think that really matters.
These comparisons to Kris Bryant are silly. Franco is still is still showing very little discipline. He might however make an interesting player on Draftkings.