The Philadelphia Phillies made a handful of roster moves to overhaul their infield this past offseason.
Matt Klentak and company signed shortstop Didi Gregorious and moved Jean Segura to third base. Scott Kingery is the Phillies full-time second baseman after floating around the infield and outfield during the 2019 season. In making these moves, the Phillies parted ways with two long-time, home-grown infielders in Cesar Hernandez and Maikel Franco.
Cesar Hernandez has gone 4-for-12 with a double and three runs scored through his first three games with the Cleveland Indians.
Meanwhile, Maikel Franco landed with the Kansas City Royals and looked to eliminate some of the same issues that plagued him in Philadelphia. In Kansas City’s opener, Franco went hitless in four at-bats with three strikeouts. He followed that up with an 0-3 day on Saturday with an RBI and a strikeout.
Franco finally got his first hits with his new team on Sunday afternoon in a 9-2 defeat. The former Phillies third baseman went 2-4 with a double and a run scored.
On Monday, the Royals traveled to Detroit to start a series with the Tigers and Franco was able to keep his bat hot. He gave Kansas City a 1-0 lead in the second inning with his first home run of the season:
After falling behind 5-1, the Royals pulled ahead 7-5 in the fourth and Franco and extended their lead to 10-5 with a three-run home run:
All in all, Franco went 3-5 with four RBIs and two runs scored in the 14-6 win. Through four games, Franco’s slash line is .313/.294/.750 with a double, two home runs and five RBIs.
While it is certainly nice to see Franco get some knocks for his new club, Phillies fans aren’t unfamiliar to the 27-year-old’s ups and downs at the plate. During the first two games, he still showed struggles tracking breaking balls out of the zone and will need to adjust quickly if he plans to make the Phillies regret letting him walk.
In six seasons with the Phils, Franco slashed .249/.302/.431.
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