Rays shortstop Wander Franco, the consensus top prospect in all of baseball, will head to Triple-A Durham when the minor league season begins next week, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (Twitter link).
The initial assignment doesn’t provide a concrete timeline for when Franco might be called to the big leagues, but it’s a fairly aggressive placement and one that’s worth noting, given Franco’s status within the game. He only turned 20 years old last month, and an assignment to Durham means he’ll skip the Double-A level entirely. Franco split the 2019 season between Class-A and Class-A Advanced, slashing a combined .327/.398/.487 with nine homers, 27 doubles, seven triples and 18 stolen bases in 495 plate appearances as one of the youngest players in both leagues.
From a service time standpoint, Franco is already well past the point where he could accrue a full year in 2021, meaning the Rays would control him all the way through 2027 regardless of when he’s brought to the Majors. Were he to remain in the minor leagues through late April 2022, they’d gain an extra year of control — through the 2028 campaign — but the general expectation has been that Franco could be in the big leagues this summer. Depending on when he’s called up, he could be in Super Two territory and thus be arbitration-eligible four times. Waiting until late mid or late June would likely keep him from reaching that designation.
There will inevitably be a spotlight placed on Franco and his performance in Durham, just as there will likely be vocal calls for his promotion to the Major Leagues right out of the gate. The early struggles from Tampa Bay shortstop Willy Adames, who has batted just .173/.215/.320 through his first 79 plate appearances, will only further fuel that scenario if the 25-year-old Adames is unable to right the ship.
At the same time, it’s worth remembering that Franco was only 18 years old when the 2019 season ended and that outside of 11 games in the Dominican Winter League, he hasn’t played in a professional game since. The Rays are surely hopeful that when Franco is called to the Majors, he’s ready for the challenge and needn’t ever be sent back to the minors for further development. The fact that he’s bypassing Double-A and going straight to the club’s top affiliate seems like a vote of confidence that he’s on the cusp of such readiness, but he’ll get some vital development time against the most advanced pitching he’s ever faced for the time being.
He’s going to hit the scene later this season as advertised and be the difference maker in AL East. Give rays that boost to secure the division and be the next up and coming superstar of league. Watch out for him !
AA is often regarded as the separation point, so it’ll be interesting to see how he handles the more polished AAA pitchers after skipping AA and having a year off. I suspect he’ll be fine, but it’ll be interesting to watch.
Let’s just say, if he starts off slow first month, no one should panic
If the rays are relying on him to be a difference maker at 20 they are expecting too much. Hes a phenomenal talent sure but thats asking a lot. Trout and vlad jr each struggled with their first tastes of major league pitching around the same age. Losing Snell and Morton is probably too much to overcome to win the division. Ill never count the rays out though. Tampa and oakland are grinders
juan soto says hi
Juan Soto is the generational exception…
Ronald Acuna’s age 20 season was kind of decent.
there are very few guys who are Juan Soto and RAJ
Would think it’s possible that the #1 overall ranked prospect could be one of of those very few guys
For every Juan Soto or Acuna there are 5 Jo Adells
and Buxtons,…..but maybe just maybe this year Buzton puts it all together …..don’t exhale yet. Lol
Franco is a phenom for a reason. Prospects like Adell aren’t in the same class. So id say there’s about a 50% chance he comes in and shines like soto or tatis. 50% he struggles or is just average.
Hey, 2-time number one prospect Jurickson Profar has blossomed into an excellent bench/utility player. And taking 6 years to do so is almost the exact same as doing it immediately upon debuting… right?
You may want to re-word your comment.
It’s rare for a 19-20 year old to have an amazing season but it’s not out of the question and it’s actually becoming more common than you think. Harper, Acuna, Soto, Tatis, Machado, Trout had a phenomenal season at 20… I’m sure the list can grow a lot longer if I put more thought into it.
Age and seasoning doesn’t matter quite as much as it used to because pitchers are no where near as polished in the big leagues as they used to be. If you are a tremendous talent and do not have obvious, glaring holes in your game (Baez comes to mind) then success will not elude you.
All the advanced analytics are great for pitchers but there just are not enough pitchers in the league that can execute a game plan against a hitter.
It’s a new generation of baseball with the likes of Vlad jr, tatis, acuna, and soto breaking the norm at such young ages. That trend will continue and organizations won’t/can’t hold these kids that are ready back any longer.
If you are a top 30 prospect in all of baseball- you need to be ready for show or darn near. If not, you are a bust. That’s not my opinion, but the result of history.
Maybe a player needs to be ready for the show or darn near for evaluators to slap a top-30 ranking on him. If a top prospect fails, it very well be the talent evaluators who are wrong and not a failure of the player. Putting all the pressure on young minor leaguers vs. those with decades of experience in the game might just be backwards.
Oh trout wasn’t good when he was first called up? That hasn’t ever been brought up before now.
The Rays begin a 6 game home stand on Monday, July 5th. Barring injuries, my guess is they will call him to stay at that point. It gives him 2 months of game action to get his feet wet against AAA pitching and will ensure he misses the super 2 cutoff.
Considering literally every minor league hasn’t played in 18 months, there’s going to be some sloppy af baseball in the beginning.
I agree with this. 45-50 games at AAA should help to shake off some of that rust.
Minor league baseball back in action is excellent news. Maybe us Padres fans can finally see where Gore is at with his development…
Not even a Rays fan and eager to see him in the majors.
He’s “wandering” into AAA? No pun intended.
If no pun intended, that makes your post even worse.
Not all who wander are lost
It’s tough to argue with Tampa’s ability to handle talent but I’m not a fan of skipping AA for AAA. I don’t really think top prospects should play much, if at all in AAA. It’s pretty much just washed up MLB guys and career minor leaguers. The top talent is always in AA.
Willy has struggled, but he will right himself; Lowe has been as bad, but again…he will figure it out.
That said, as a Rays fan I am ready for Wander. Our offense as a whole has been weak, the fact the Rays are above .500 is kind of amazing. I’d slot him in as dh every day and go from there, giving Willy and Lowe some time off periodically. Cannot wait for his arrival.
Would of thought he’d play about 20 or so games in AA then move to AAA.
Wander Franco has the last place New York Yankee’s afraid …… very afraid! For good reason. This kid is a stud! Adding him to the mix in Tampa Bay is going to be scary. Gleyber Torres is not in the same league as this kid as a player. Not even close!
Yea okay the Yankees are shaking. He won’t be a Ray in 5 years and the Rays still won’t win a WS.
And over next 5 seasons – neither will yanks
I prefer that Wander opens up in AA in order to spread out the organizational SS talent. Taylor Walls should be the SS at AAA. Walls is the best defensive player in the minors for the Rays. He is ready defensively for the show and has a high on base profile.
I haven’t seen Wander play. Is he similar to Tatis or more from the Seager mold? Perhaps someone else?
Watched Padres v D-backs at Chase Field. You can’t take your eyes off Tatis. He is absolutely electric on the field and last nite he was interacting with the fans off of it. He scorched a 2B to left center that sounded differently from every ball hit. I’m not sure of the exit velo, but he squared it up and it was at the wall in a heartbeat.
I hope Wander can be another Tatis. Guys like that are great for baseball and can attract a younger viewing audience.
Skipping a level might hurt him.