The Braves Blog

Francoeur tries getting more selective | ajc.com

Frenchy is learning how to talk a walk. Can you imagine how dangerous this kid could be if he combines his hitting abilities with some plate discipline?

I have heard stories of how Dale Murphy went from a pure pull hitter to one willing to go the other way. Pitchers supposedly exclaimed with great fear “Did you hear the bad news? Murphy learned to hit the other way.” I can just imagine a similar exclamation along the lines of “Did you hear Francoeur learned to take a walk?”

If pitchers know Francoeur will swing at anything, they will throw him unhittable pitches, and let him get himself out. However, if he forces them to throw him strikes, by not swinging at anything unhittable, he will become very dangerous.

Its a no-win situation for the pitchers. Throw him something anywhere near the plate, and he has shown he can cream it. Walk him and he not only has speed and is a threat to steal, but would have at worst Brian McCann hitting behind him.

Anyway, I know this isn’t my greatest blog ever, but I don’t feel to great right now. I still wanted to mention something about this article though.