The Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball announced the signing of third baseman Maikel Franco for the 2023 season (link via Japan Times). It’ll be the first stint in Japan for Franco, who has appeared in the majors in each of the past nine campaigns.
A top prospect during his days as a minor leaguer, Franco looked like a franchise building block for the Phillies after a .280/.343/.497 showing during his age-22 season in 2015. He never took the expected step forward after that initial MLB success, however, and that year remains the best of his career. Franco posted below-average numbers in each of the next two seasons. He bounced back with an average year in 2018 but was cut loose after another disappointing season in 2019.
After being let go by Philadelphia, Franco bounced around the majors in journeyman fashion. He signed with the Royals for the abbreviated 2020 campaign. He posted decent offensive numbers but was nevertheless non-tendered at the end of the season. Franco played for the Orioles and Nationals over the past couple seasons, logging a bit more than 100 games in each year. He combined for just a .219/.254/.319 line from 2021-22, and he was released in August during both seasons.
Franco owns a .244/.293/.414 line in over 3500 big league plate appearances. He’s connected on 130 home runs and surpassed 20 longballs in three straight seasons with the Phils from 2016-18. He’s occasionally shown the power potential that once made him such an exciting young player, but a very aggressive offensive approach has prevented him from topping a .321 on-base percentage in any season since his rookie year. Franco has rated as a below-average defensive third baseman throughout his career.
A native of the Dominican Republic, Franco has a decent .268/.314/.439 line over parts of four Triple-A seasons. He’ll look to more consistently tap into his power production against NPB pitching. He only recently turned 30 years old and could again be an option for MLB teams in future offseasons if he performs well in Japan.
His MLB career looked over and I have low expectations for him in NPB unless he retools his batting approach
He will never set foot on a US baseball field ever again probably disappointing career.
Seems a bit harsh.
A good year in the NPB either gets him another MLB opportunity or another year in Japan if he chooses
Very harsh. He has over 800 big league hits. How many people can say that? Just because he didn’t live up to the expectations of a couple of guys at Baseball America doesn’t mean he has anything to be ashamed of or be disappointed by.
Says the guy with zero baseball experience
Says the guy with no baseball experience
Says the guy with an unknown amount of baseball experience.
Asia was Franco’s only real option if he wanted a decent salary in 2023. He was headed back to the minors in the States. I’m sure he’d tear it up in Korea, but I’m not sure how he’ll do in Japan. It’s a tougher league. This could go either way, production wise…
Players don’t always tear it up like you think…pitching is much different
Always wondered how and why teams in Japan and Korea decide to sign the imports they sign. It’s a mystery.
You gotta be on the inside track.
Where’s the track, I’ll hop on it
Unless you are an ex star, calls get made and they try you out.
I’m not an ex star unfortunately, however I am interested in some late night pumpkin pie with Curly
TJ, 10 at night, shouldn’t you be counting sheep? If that doesn’t work, count Mets, that will put you under…
Curly o’l boy, I’m in LA for the time so it’s barely 2400 out here right now. You after the late night pumpkin pie again yourself??
TJ, I prefer mashed potatoes, but if that pumpkin has “Manfred” written on it, I’ll kick it to the curb
Hahahahahaha I prefer mashed taters as well my friend.
Dear lord, I meant 20:00hrs
Sleep well mon frere, if you can’t count Mets, count past commissioners, just don’t count on Manfred, I certainly don’t
Peace out
You can call me Dave…
Hey Dave
Nyuk nyuk nyuk
JPL pitching will handle him. Should of went to the KBO.
I agree I doubt he’ll even hit near 200 avg
Is there a better sports team name than Ham Fighters?
Yeah, the meat loafers
Some of the minor league names are /were pretty creative, although there are fewer these days. The one near me that I liked were the Lansing Lugnuts. Their hat just had a bolt or lignut on it. Pretty sweet.
Hope their hat had a lugnut on it…
I still lol about a comment somebody made on here a few yrs ago about the ham fighters.
Do they hate pork or do they use ham as a weapon or do they fight on behalf of the ham?
There were several others I cannot recall that made me really happy.
one of my favorite comments ive read on this site was one about former OFer Denard Span being the distance between one’s testicles
Remember getting a bit excited when franco first hit the big leagues with my Phillies, that died quickly. Glad to see he found a league he belongs in.
…..ahhhh 2015. You weren’t the only one….
How to waste $1 million easily, Franco will likely disappoint in NPB. His low BB rates will not help him especially with his lackluster defense.
The guy has a 0.6 WAR over 9 MLB seasons. I’d be astonished if he makes it back.
Love Maikey didn’t work out for him last few years after Phillies. One of the nicest athletes I’ve ever met. Can’t say a bad word about him another than good luck Compa F looking fwd to seeing your success!
Financial terms?
Enjoy the sushi Maikel!
They must keep interpretors on the payroll.