MLB’s Newest Star, Wander Franco, is Already Making an Impact for the Tampa Bay Rays
At 21 years old, Wander Franco is the youngest player on the roster for Tampa Bay. In fact, he was the youngest player on any opening day roster in Major League Baseball (MLB) this year. He may be the Rays’ youngest slugger, but he’s also their most talented.
Hailing from the Dominican Republic, Franco was ranked as baseball’s number one prospect in 2020, and for good reason. The shortstop dominated in the minors and saw his first major league action last summer, when he introduced himself to Rays fans (and Red Sox pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez) by launching a three-run rocket in his big-league debut against Boston. That home run was his first career hit and Franco hasn’t looked back.
Now in his first full major league season, Franco is continuing to find his groove and show flashes of brilliance with both his bat and glove. He has the slash line of a seasoned veteran (batting avg/on-base%/slug%) through 22 games is .302/.327/.531. His batting average is a commendable achievement for any player, but what makes his average even more impressive is his consistency at such a young age.
Franco possesses a keen eye at the plate and attacks pitches in the strike zone with lightning-fast bat speed that often ends in a thunderous crack. His strike zone recognition has been applauded since his minor league days and has translated to a 93 percent zone-contact rate, well above the MLB average of 82 percent.
Franco packs a punch from either side of the plate and leads the Rays in home runs this year (4). The ball comes screaming off his bat when he hits it on the screws. His electric swing has already produced an exit velocity of 112.4 mph this year. This kind of consistency and power to all parts of the field are the skills that have a lot of experts saying he may find himself in the 2022 All-Star Game.
His defensive versatility is the icing on the cake. The 5’10” Dominican product has proven capable of playing both second and third base in addition to shortstop. With his multiplicity of skills, the hardest part for Wander Franco is slowing down.
Franco missed his second game of the season on Sunday after being scratched from the lineup for Tampa’s matchup with the Minnesota Twins. Both absences were due to quadricep/hamstring tightness, apparently from overexertion, and Franco has since returned to his regular slot at shortstop, but that doesn’t mean Rays Manager Kevin Cash isn’t keeping a close eye on the young standout they call “El Patron”.
He’s trying to manage his star player’s workload in any way he can. One tactic he’s employed is having Franco not run full speed on routine outs where he likely won’t reach base. While this will help Franco’s lower body stay healthy, it does have its downsides.
Already, this plan has resulted in Franco not reaching first on a couple of occasions where he may have made it due to infield errors. But Cash has his players’ backs on this one. “It’s 100 percent on me,” Cash said, adding that he tells all his young players, especially Franco “‘We’re playing a lot of baseball right now, manage your workload.’” Cash went on to talk about his request for the shortstop to slow up. “I know the optics of it. But fully support Franco. He’s doing what I’m asking him to do, so I appreciate it.”
This “take it easy” strategy doesn’t come naturally to Franco, who prides himself on pushing it to the limit. His enthusiasm for the game can land him in a little hot water at times, like when he ran all the way from first base straight through third base coach Rodney Linares’ stop sign earlier this season and made a break for home. Of course, Linares and his staff were irked by this and had words with Franco after. But not until he returned from home plate with a smile, his gamble having paid off with a run scored.
Franco looks like the best player on the field during most games, an impressive feat for a kid that couldn’t legally drink until two months ago. He’s got a spark that can ignite any moment in the game and there is no telling how high his star could rise. The Rays are trapped in the loaded AL East behind the MLB’s hottest squad in 2022, the New York Yankees. When these two rivals meet at the end of May, the stage will be set for Franco to make his mark on this young season. As long as he can stay healthy, his at-bats should keep improving. By then, everyone may get to see him in Los Angeles wearing an All-Star jersey.
