Enderson Franco Signs With Mexican League’s Generales De Durango
The Generales de Durango of the Mexican League announced this week they’ve signed right-hander Enderson Franco for the 2022 season. It’ll be the first stint in Mexico for the 29-year-old.
Franco has a bit of big league experience, having suited up in five games with the Giants in 2019. The Venezuela native tallied 5 1/3 innings of two-run ball while averaging just under 96 MPH on his fastball, but he hasn’t logged any other MLB time. He’s spent a decade in the affiliated ranks, though, performing fairly well up through Double-A but struggling at the minors’ highest level. In parts of three Triple-A campaigns, Franco owns a 5.43 ERA with a below-average 19.5% strikeout percentage but a solid 7.4% walk rate.
While Franco has never missed many bats, his combination of arm strength and track record of throwing strikes caught the attention of the Korea Baseball Organization’s Lotte Giants last winter. He signed with the Busan-based club and spent the 2021 season in South Korea. Franco tallied 150 innings in the KBO and posted a 5.40 ERA with an 18.3% strikeout rate while uncharacteristically walking 11.1% of opponents. Lotte brought in former big leaguers Charlie Barnes and Glenn Sparkman as their two allotted foreign-born pitchers this offseason, replacing the outgoing Franco and Dan Straily (who signed a minor league deal with the Diamondbacks).
As the Generales noted in their announcement of Franco’s signing, he has experience in both rotation and relief roles. He has started 163 of his 183 minor league appearances, but he came out of the bullpen in all five of his big league outings and worked in both capacities (27 starts, 10 relief appearances) with Lotte last season. Franco pitched in seven games — all in relief — during Venezuelan Winter League action this offseason.
KBO’s Lotte Giants Sign Charlie Barnes
The Lotte Giants of the Korea Baseball Organization announced they’ve signed left-hander Charlie Barnes. The former Minnesota Twins southpaw will receive a $610K guarantee, according to Jeeho Yoo of Yonhap. (Brandon Warne of Access Twins was first to report Barnes was signing with Lotte).
A fourth-round pick out of Clemson in 2017, Barnes steadily progressed through the Twins system. He reached the big leagues this year, ultimately making nine appearances (eight starts) for Minnesota down the stretch. He posted a 5.92 ERA over 38 innings while only striking out 11.4% of opposing hitters. After the season, the Twins outrighted Barnes off their 40-man roster.
While it wasn’t an illustrious debut showing, the 26-year-old has generally been effective throughout his minor league tenure. He owns an ERA below 4.00 at every stop through Double-A, and while he struggled during a brief end-of-season stint at Triple-A in 2019, he’d been better there this past season. Barnes tossed 76 innings with the Twins’ top affiliate in St. Paul, posting a 3.79 ERA. That came with a below-average 19.1% strikeout percentage, but Barnes’ 7.4% walk rate and 46.7% ground-ball rate were each a bit better than the league average.
That showing was enough to attract the attention of the Busan-based Giants. While Barnes didn’t have the requisite service time to reject the Twins’ outright assignment, the organization evidently granted him his release to make the move to South Korea. That allows the South Carolina native to lock in a guaranteed salary for 2022 that’s better than he’d have made during his time in Triple-A. If Barnes performs well enough in the KBO to embark upon a major league return at some point down the line, he might also field MLB offers that surpass the near-league minimum salaries he’d have earned over his first few seasons had he remained with Minnesota.
In addition to the Barnes deal, the Giants also confirmed their previously-reported agreement with Glenn Sparkman. As Yoo points out, Barnes, Sparkman and DJ Peters are now locked in as the Giants’ three allotted foreign-born players. That officially closes the books on any chance of Dan Straily and Enderson Franco — both of whom pitched for the Giants last year — returning to the club in 2022.
Lotte Giants Sign Enderson Franco
TODAY: Franco’s deal with the Giants is official, as per Jeeho Yoo of Yonhap News (Twitter link). Franco will earn $300K in guaranteed money ($245K in salary, $55K as a signing bonus) and another $200K is available to him in incentives.
NOVEMBER 15: Right-hander Enderson Franco is close to a deal with KBO’s Lotte Giants, according to Bae Joong-hyun of Ilgan Sports (hat tip to Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.net). The contract will become official once Franco’s medical check is complete.
Franco will go to one Giants organization from another, as he elected to become a free agent earlier this month after spending the previous two seasons in San Francisco. This stint resulted in Franco making his MLB debut during the 2019 season, appearing in five games and posting a 3.38 ERA over 5 1/3 relief innings. He didn’t see any action in 2020, however, as the Giants outrighted Franco off their 40-man roster in June, and he wasn’t included in the team’s alternate training site roster.
The move to South Korea is the latest stop in a pro career that began as an international signing with the Astros in 2009. Over 10 minor league seasons with the Astros, Rays, Marlins, Braves, and Giants, Franco amassed a 4.57 ERA, 2.64 K/BB rate, and 7.0 K/9 over 889 1/3 innings, starting 163 of his 183 career games on the farm.
Giants Outright Enderson Franco
The Giants placed right-hander Tyler Beede on the 45-day injured list and outrighted fellow righty Enderson Franco to Triple-A Sacramento on Monday, per Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area.
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The IR placement for Beede was a procedural move, as he won’t play this season after he underwent Tommy John surgery back in March. Beede won’t make his return until next spring or summer as a result of the operation. The 26-year-old, once a high-end prospect, was vying for a spot in San Francisco’s rotation before his injury and the coronavirus shutdown.
Franco, formerly a minor leaguer with the Astros, Rays, Marlins and Braves, signed with the Giants as a free agent prior to the 2019 campaign and went on to throw 113 innings of 5.97 ERA/5.91 FIP ball with Sacramento. The 27-year-old was more successful during his major league debut, albeit over a mere 5 1/3 frames, as he gave up two earned runs on four hits and one walk (four strikeouts) in San Francisco.