Nick Franklin as a Shortstop
I don’t have much insight into the mind of the average baseball fan, but thanks to the chats that we host on this website, I’ve gotten some glimpses into the mind of the average FanGraphs reader. And, it seems to me, the average FanGraphs reader at present is wondering about two questions:
(1) Why is literally every single pitcher in baseball literally dying?
(2) Who the heck is finally going to trade for Nick Franklin?
Franklin has taken over the chat section, and for every Franklin question or comment we accept, I’d say we reject another five. Franklin’s is an unusual and compelling situation: he’s a young player, fairly highly rated, who’s all but certain to be moved because there’s nowhere for him to play. Young players aren’t often such obvious trade bait, and everyone wants to know if their team can get a new young player in a deal.
Now, this isn’t going to speculate about potential destinations. There are several potential destinations, given the number of teams that would like to acquire a cheap bat with years of control. But there’s a big flashing question regarding Franklin’s trade value: is he, or is he not, a shortstop? See, if Franklin’s a shortstop, he’d be worth more than if he were just a second baseman for the years ahead. The Mets have been scouting Franklin to see about his defense. Presumably, they’re not alone. If Franklin’s a shortstop, he’s more appealing to more teams.
And on Franklin as a shortstop, plenty of people have opinions. The goal here is to figure out what Franklin is. It’s not like he has a long big-league track record of playing the position. He’s been there for just under 21 innings. So, what we can’t do is just point to the numbers, but what we can do is try to consider all of the evidence that we do have. What are the numbers and what are the thoughts? Might we be able to establish some sort of range?
Let’s start blending. And we’ll begin with the more flattering evaluations. Here’s John Sickels from last May, when Franklin was promoted to Seattle:
All told, as a shortstop I would describe him as “adequate, has a chance to improve, workable if he hits enough.” On the other hand, I have no doubts at all about his ability to be an above-average, even excellent, gloveman at second base.
The evaluation there seems to be that Franklin is maybe a 0 shortstop, but more likely something along the lines of a -5 shortstop. Perhaps -10 — I don’t know what Sickels means by “adequate”. Let’s say somewhere between -10 and 0.
How about Keith Law? Asked whether he thinks Franklin can play short:
I actually do. Maybe somewhere between 0 to -5 runs a year on defense, but with his bat, that will work – and I won’t rule out the possibility that he can be more than that. He has unusually good instincts out there.
Law spells out the range, and hints at potential improvement down the road. “Unusually good instincts” is the best comment you’re going to read about Franklin’s defense in this post.
Now Marc Hulet, from before last season:
Franklin is reliable at shortstop, fielding everything hit to him, and has good actions but both his range and arm are fringe-average for the position. Second base would probably be his best position but Dustin Ackley is far more secure in his job than Ryan.
Hulet describes Franklin as something kind of like a Jhonny Peralta. Again, Franklin seems no better than league average, and likely a little below.
Baseball Prospectus, also last May upon Franklin’s promotion:
He is limited at shortstop, offering only modest range and an arm that earns below-average to fringe-average grades. He has decent hands and solid instincts but they are not enough to make him a palatable defender on the left side of the infield long term. If he is shifted to second base permanently, a position he has played extensively in the minor leagues, Franklin could be an average defender with an average arm for the position.
There’s a little more praise of Franklin’s instincts, but this evaluation would seem to describe Franklin as more of a -10 shortstop or so. Maybe -5 right now with decline on the way. Describing him as maybe an average defensive second baseman establishes a low ceiling for ability at short.
Do we have anything else? There is a little bit. Our own Dave Cameron has described Franklin in the recent past as not a shortstop. Through my own conversations I’ve heard expressed skepticism that Franklin is even a second baseman. Last year, in more than 800 innings, Franklin was at -7 as a second baseman by UZR, but he was at 0 by DRS. He emerged with a very low Fan Scouting Report rating. The Mariners themselves liked Franklin as a shortstop less than Brad Miller, and it seems they still think that way, despite reports that Franklin and Miller continue to compete in camp for the starting job.
But! Franklin says he played with some injuries last year. Tangotiger has demonstrated in the past that shortstops, on average, improve a little in the field until an early-career defensive peak. Franklin’s only 23 years old. And for the record, it’s not like Franklin is incapable of making a difficult play as a shortstop in the bigs. This play he made against Kole Calhoun is a play many shortstops would’ve had trouble with:
It’s interesting how much Franklin looks like Derek Jeter in that clip. Jeter, for a very long time, has been a below-average defensive shortstop. The Yankees haven’t exactly struggled to win on a consistent basis because of it. Jeter’s been good enough to play the position, and he’s offset the defense with his hitting, which is the expectation for Franklin, as well.
Putting everything together, I don’t see any reason to believe Franklin is above-average at short, right now. He might be best described as somewhere between -15 and -5, or maybe -10 and 0. If you believe in early-career defensive improvement, and if you put stock in Franklin’s offseason workouts with Barry Larkin, you might prefer the latter description. Really, we’re just talking about a handful of runs. Franklin would be expected to peak soon, and then he’d start to decline, and it wouldn’t take much of a decline to turn him into a defensive mess. So even if he’s a shortstop today, he’s probably not a shortstop further down the road.
That’s the best evaluation I can come up with. Could Franklin be a shortstop on a winning team? Shin-Soo Choo was a center fielder on a winning team. Anything’s possible. Franklin would probably end up more comfortable at second, and while he’s most familiar with short, the same goes for most players who get drafted there and end up changing to go somewhere else. If a team trades for Nick Franklin and sticks him at short, he could probably stay there without being a catastrophe for a few seasons. But he’s unlikely to be a long-term solution at the position, however important that might be. Trade for Franklin as a shortstop and you could still use some shortstop security.
The big question’s been about Nick Franklin’s defense. Seems to me the big question ought to be about Nick Franklin’s offense. He’s demonstrated that he can walk, and he’s demonstrated that he can probably hit about 15 dingers a season. To what extent are strikeouts going to remain a part of his game going forward? He struck out almost a third of the time down the stretch as a rookie. In his first exposure to Triple-A, he struck out 23% of the time. In his second exposure to Triple-A, he cut that rate in half. It’s the bat that’s going to determine whether Franklin’s a regular, and his being special depends on whether he makes more contact now that he’s gained considerable experience.
One way or another, Nick Franklin, for the next several seasons, ought to be a middle infielder. Whether he’s a good one will probably have more to do with his bat than with his glove. One question is whether Franklin’s a major-league shortstop. A more important question is whether Franklin’s a major-league regular.
Jeff made Lookout Landing a thing, but he does not still write there about the Mariners. He does write here, sometimes about the Mariners, but usually not.
Well, for what it’s worth, Franklin had 0.8 UZR in 20 innings as a shortstop last year, but that’s probably too small to mean anything. Nice article… I would dispute your point that every single pitcher in baseball is dying, but I guess they technically are.
The prospect evaluators cited in the post give a consistent picture of Nick Franklin’s defense at shortstop, which fits with everything else that I have heard on him following his minor league career from low A on up. He’s heady, positions well, has played SS his whole life, and knows the position. He feeds the ball well to the 2B bag and has good awareness of what is happening during a play. His footwork is somewhat below average (including not getting a great fist step), his range fringe average now and likely well below average before long, and his arm well below average. Frankling has a world of confidence in himself, and tries 115% on every play. That ‘extra effort’ can be a disadvantage, though; for example he made numbers of errors playing 2B last year from rushing plays he could have made cleanly. Experience likely fixes that.
At the age of 23, a team could put him at shortstop for several years, have below average but tolerable defensive results, and then move him to 2B. As a second baseman he would be very good with enough reps to sharpen up his turning the pivot; maybe even excellent. 2B is Franklin’s ideal position, both now and going forward. A good comparison in this respect is Asdrubal Cabrera, whom the Mariners also had, and traded away for half a bag of stale peanuts. Asdrubal is _still_ being trotted out at shortstop even though he has been very seriously below acceptable at fielding that position for years. Asdrubal was, as Franklin now, a well-above average, even excellent second baseman. A team acquiring Franklin to fill a gap at SS now is very likely to make the same usage mistake going forward as with Asdrubal Cabrera. But that’s on them, I suppose. What Nick Franklin can do is fairly clear.
The problem in moving Franklin to a different organization isn’t ‘what position’ but ‘what return?’ As a hitter, I REALLY like Franklin. He’s learned patience. He has legtimate power from the left side. He Ks too much now, but has a history of adjusting to a level as he learns the league. He is a good percentage basestealer as well. He’s a bundle of energy and a team leader type, and has been since an amateur in Florida. To me, Franklin has every chance to turn in a run of 4 win seasons, with a couple higher yet and several All-Star appearances. That’s a median projection as I’ve watched him, he could be better depending upon a) how much he cuts down on his strikeouts, and b) whether a team plays him at 2B where he belongs to maximize his value. Any team playing him at SS lowers his value, but maybe solves _their_ problem, so who knows.
No one is going to offer the Mariners a return on Nick Franklin rating him as a steady 4 Win player. At least now. And it will be difficult for Franklin to get enough playing time now at the major league level to cement that valuation. In effect in getting Cano, the Mariners tanked Franklin’s trade value by undercutting their own develop-and-trade position; so ‘Mariners’ a move. That said, I simply don’t see the advantages to the Mariners in giving Franklin away at $.45 on the dollar of his value.
This is sad in a way. I can hardly ever recall more teams in contention desperate for a second baseman, and now several greatly in need for an interim shortstop with offensive upside. Yet hardly any of these orgs match up well with the Mariners in terms of what Seattle needs back. NONE of them look likely to surrender a prospect even as good as Franklin. —So the Mariners should simply wait. July will come, and December too. The Mariners don’t have to move Nick Franklin, and shouldn’t until they can get real value addressing real needs. The best long-term swap likely would be a multi-player give-and-get. That’s not something which can be patched together in the last weeks of Spring Training. So, no go. I’d love for Nick Franklin to stay in Seattle anyway. It’s really hard to see how that works out long-term now though.
I’ll add that Nick Franklin is significantly BETTER as a hitter than Asrdubal Cabrera, in particular having more power. Cabrera was and maybe still is slightly better as a defender; he certainly had a stronger defensive reputation coming up. I’ve always loved Asdrubal, and the Mariners trading him was the point at which it became clear to me the org was seriously deficient in smarts and executive capacity. But Franklin is better than Asdrubal Cabrera (they both switch hit but are natural lefties). Take what you think you’d expect for a good return for Cabrera and nudge that up a bit: that should be the floor in acquisition costs for Nick Franklin. Until the deals get there, the response should be “Keep talking, this could get interesting . . . .”
It reminds me of the discussion of Jean Segura being a 2nd baseman not a shortstop. Then he went to Milwaukee and has been among the best in the league.
Well Segura did have negative UZR. He’s not a great defensive SS.
A big difference is Segura has much more speed and much greater arm strength. Segura doesn’t have the history of play at shortstop, either, so Franklin would presumably have much better instincts and jumps.
Also, DRS likes Segura more than UZR. And by eye-account, he looks like a league average defender at shortstop, if not a bit better.
First you described his defense like this:
‘Then he went to Milwaukee and has been among the best in the league.’
Then you said:
‘And by eye-account, he looks like a league average defender at shortstop, if not a bit better.’
One of the best to league average? Which one is it?
This is why (as a Tigers fan) I think he’d be a great fit in Detroit. They don’t need a long-term SS (assuming we believe that Iglesias will return healthy and is a legit starter). They need someone to man the position this season.
Franklin is likely acceptable at SS this year and then could slide over to 2B to replace Kinsler. Bing bang boom.
Of course, I can’t imagine what Detroit could offer for Franklin that would be acceptable to both sides. Trading Castellanos would only create another infield hole, Robbie Ray is apparently much more valuable to the Tigers than to any other team, and there’s not that much talent in the rest of the minor league system.
Kinsler is signed until 2017 though. It just creates logjams in the future. I know as Tigers fans we’ve been spoiled recently, but you can’t go all in every time something goes wrong. We were blessed to have Fielder for a bit when Martinez went down. That was completely necessary. However, with Victor back and a more balanced and complete team IMO, we can live with a combination of Worth, Lombo, Perez, or Suarez until Iglesias gets back. Not worth selling the farm for Franklin. Not worth the draft pick or the $ for Drew.
And Detroit could turn around and flip him next offseason. The only problem with that is that Detroit has NOTHING that Seattle could use at all. Detroit maybe very serious, but Seattle would be best to trade with Mets for Montero.
Yeah, I have a hard time seeing how adding an asset like Nick Franklin would create a “logjam.” The question is simply whether Seattle has any interest in what Detroit could offer them.
Seattle already ‘has’ Montero. Erasmo Ramierez is a highly similar player, who already has turned in good results at when debuting at a younger age. Seriously, Montero is not a great match-up for a pitcher coming back. I question whether the Mariners even should go for a starting pitcher in return for Franklin. The pinch in the starting rotation for Seattle is temporary if it exists at all. There is more depth in starting pitching in the organization than is being credited as well. The Mariners have a good track record in acquiring starting pitching prospects under the present regime as well. Starting pitching just is not the major weakness for the Mariners.
i think detroit would prefer franklin, who should hit and can fake it in the field, over iglesias, who can’t hit to the point where he’s a liability even with great fielding
im probably in the minority, but i think iglesias can develop into a nice hitter, as least average. good contact skills and gets down the line as fast as any righty ive ever seen.
what we do know is iglesias is a very good defender, and franklin is probably a poor defender, at short. best guess franklin hits much better, but from where im standing, i like iglesias overall. at least we know his defense is there.
Maybe they could offer a starting pitcher; the Tigers seem to have a lot of them. What about that guy Doug Fist….
…oh that’s right….nevermind.
Doesn’t J-Honey put up above average defensive numbers like, every year?
He is roughly average, but has a bad rep.
If range is his issue than he might be good enough on a team that uses shifts and defensive alignment well. He isn’t going to be great but with more information hae might become good enough.
pretty sure his arm is a big issue, moreso than range
haven’t seen him play at all, but that throw in the above gif suggests his arm isn’t as bad as people are saying. i dont know, thats a pretty darn strong throw.
As someone who watches the Mariners, I think his arm is his biggest asset. Everything else is much more worrying.
Are there any teams that could use him as a second baseman and slide their current second baseman to short instead?
I know the Mariners have Miller, Cano, Ackley and ahem…..Bloomquist for two years guaranteed. I don’t think I would move Franklin unless I was getting a Nifty high Minor league arm or two. Miller sure looked like the better option but we are talking about 2/3 of a season. Franklin is also a year and half younger than Miller. If he does not bring back an outfielder who makes this team two wins better or a starting pitcher who makes this team two wins better, why do it. Their are worse things than not trading him. I suppose his trade value might be as high as it’s going to get but he could go back to AAA for now if need be. Seasons are long and he may come in handy. Mariners fans should be happy he was not traded as of now just to be traded. I mean he could easily make up two wins in a season if the Mariners Dumped/traded Bloomquist and gave Franklin the “Supersub” job.
Franklin does seem to pass the “Zobristness” test:
– Good instincts in field (check)
– Adequate at SS if needed (check)
– Potential plus 2B (check)
– Great minor-league OBP with some pop as well (check)
If the M’s use their heads this time, maybe they can trade Willie for a fungible middle reliever and let Franklin learn the Supersub ropes.
I didn’t realize a .360 OBP in the minors was “great.” Good maybe, but not great. Although that comp is rather forced since Zobrist was a college player, Zobrist posted a .429 OBP in the minors. You might as well be comparing Nolan Arenado’s “great” .174 ISO with Miguel Sano’s also “great” .284 ISO.
I’ve used the Zobrist comparison for him before (prior) to Tampa Bay’s interest this offseason and got jumped all over for it. I don’t think it’s that outlandish. I am not saying he’s going to be the true 5 WAR player Zobrist has been since 2009. What I am saying is I could see him being a versatile player for the Mariners playing multiple positions and producing positive value offensively and even potentially defensively in places. Zobrist is just a projection albeit a lofty one. Franklin is coming into his 23 year old season. I’d keep him unless they get something/s that make them tangibly better this year.
I’d have to say that simply taking their averaged career MiL stats isn’t fair in this situation for several reasons.
First, Zobrist was a college senior when drafted, while Franklin was coming straight out of high school. As a result, he’s had to develop in the lower minors while Zobrist didn’t.
Second, even in spite of this and his much, much, MUCH less-advanced age, Franklin only spent about ~150 more AB by my eye-guess in the lower minors compared to Zobrist.
Third, there’s that age thing. Zobrist was 25 when he got his first full season at AA. Franklin was 21. Age relative to competition has been a central competent of MiL analysis that Bill James introduced in his early days.
Fourth, even if you were to throw age into the wind and go decide to go exclusively with averaged high-minors production, there’s the chunk of time Zobrist spent back in AAA after getting ~200 PA and then ~300 PA in the Majors while Franklin has that first stint, adjustment-period ~300 PA in AAA (at the age of 21, by the way — sorry, I just couldn’t resist the age factor. It’s too monstrously huge) that bog them down.
In my absolutely and completely NON expert opinion, it’s much more fair to compare Franklin’s 2013 AAA to Zobrist’s 2007. After that, Zobrist had only been waiting for a roster spot to clear/ force his way into one as Franklin will most likely be doing this year. In that season, Franklin and Zobrist compare quite strongly. wRC+ pretty close (Zobrist 141, Franklin 147), both have the monstrous OBP’s tz mentioned. Franklin, however, has slight edge’s in every offensive area… and is 4 years younger than Zobrist was.
And dare I neglect to mention the shear magnitude of difference between Zobrist’s first 300 MLB PA (over two years) to Franklins first 400 (in one season)? 90 wRC+/ 96 OPS+ (using both FG and BR here since the 1-year effects they have on SafeCo’s new dimensions seem to be noticeably causing a gap) compared to Zobrist’s… what? 30-ish wRC+ I’m eyeballing.
*Good minor-league OBP for item #4.
And dag gummit, now I’ll happily add a 5th element:
– Blocked in the majors by a better-fielding SS and a future HOF 2B.
So Dag Gummit, agreed in all respects on Franklin’s offensive potentials and the comparison of Franklin and Zobrist. Franklin is in fact a seriously underrated offensive prospect who has turned in great performance at very young ages relative to his levels. That doesn’t even take into account the more-or-less half season under the ding of a concussion upon first reaching AA which _lowers_ his overall numbers. Nick Franklin is immediately going to become one of the best players on any team which acquires him if he’s moved.
What I find so remarkable about Zobrist relative to Franklin or just about anybody is the remarkably high value Zobrist has produced despite being routinely bounced between playing postions. Very few guys can do that; it’s hard to even think about another player. We’re not talking about 50 games at 2b then 50 games in the OF, but swapping defensive locations on a daily basis. I wouldn’t count on Franklin being able to do that since hardly anybody can. Most ‘super-subs’ are exactly like Willie Bloomquist, able to play below average but not terrible results at enough positions that teams use that flexibility to carry somebody else really above average at one place/thing.
Franklin would be a steal for practically anybody who got him in my opinion. —So I’d like the Mariners to keep him, and at the very least keep him until they get a fair value offer at a position of real need.
As long as we get nothing back, I think we should send him down to Tacoma to play as shortstop. Still see a lot of pop in his bat.
Pure conjecture (i.e. meaningless nonsense), but the Pirates could use Franklin and they have plenty of players they could spare in a trade. Jordy Mercer is not exactly Arky Vauaghan, but even if you keep him at Short and play Franklin at 2B the Bucs could improve defensively by playing Neil Walker at 3B and Pedro Alvarez at 1B. A Pedro Alvarez/Gabe Alvarez platoon at 1B makes too much sense.
Alvarez isn’t bad defensively anymore since he lost weight and focused on improving it. I’m not sure how I would fit those pieces together. I see Mercer as a 1.5ish WAR player, so he’s not an ideal full-time starter. Maybe your set-up is the best unless the Pirates acquired a decent 1B and could move Mercer into a super utility role replacing Franklin or Alvarez against LHPs.
At this point, Alvarez hasn’t shown the bat to be a starting first baseman.
that’s an interesting idea actually. They prob don’t want to move Alvarez around tho if they can help it.
Agree with Jeff’s last paragraphs. It’s more a question of whether Franklin can hit. Teams would be getting a question mark, not a sure thing, on offense. Is Franklin more the guy who tore it up for a short while or the guy who fell into a black hole?
The Mariners might like to know which one he is too and may figure the upside if he’s the Good Franklin is worth more than the loss of return if he’s the bad Franklin.
I would put Nick Franklin’s defense ahead of Michal Young and on par with Derek Jeter, which is to say that Franklin’s defense is adequate and can start on most teams if he hits above average for the position.
He’d fit well in NYY. Play 2B now and the Yanks have an actual player there. If/when Jeter gets hurt, he can then slide to SS if need be. And maybe slide over for a while at least next year.
I’ve thought that as well as Franklin would be quite a gain for the Yankees with that short right field porch and question galore in their infield. I’m left to wonder what the Yankees have to offer the Yankees in such a scenario.
*Yankees have to offer the Mariners*
Michael Pineda?
I wouldn’t mind at all Michael Pineda coming back to Seattle. But since he seems to have lost about 5 mph on the heater since the shoulder injury, he isn’t nearly enough for Franklin straight up at this point. I like Jose Campos too, but the Mariners have 2-3 guys who do what he did, so I’ve moved on.
There have been lose-lose trades in baseball history, but we haven’t seen one really stand out like this Mariners-Yankees swap. Harvey Kuehn for Rocky Colavito was amongst the most famous, but that was for established players who REALLY didn’t fit the acquiring teams. Jesus Montero is never going to be more than a lump, and Hector Noesi is misnamed: he’s really O. Heck Catastroesi. So the Yankees are going to ‘win’ this one if Micheal Pineda even puts up league average results for a couple of season. I think Pineda will be much better than that, and I wish him well. Once the Mariners dispose of the failures from this deal still haunting the roster here, I won’t even think about it at all. Luiz Gohara and D. J. Peterson loom much larger as far as I’m concerned. And Nick Franklin!
He’s a good fit for the Bankees to slide into 2B. They wouldn’t use him at SS. Chances are they’ll just sign a SS next winter. Lowrie probably.
Lowrie, BTW, was a college 2B.
i don’t think the yankees and mariners trade for a while. There’s probably something of an awkward relationship there
Franklin would be a great fit for the Yankers in every respect. The only problem is that NYY has nothing remotely comparable of value to offer. If the New York Checkbooks want Nick Franklin, it’s up to them to put together a three-corner deal, where the Marines get fair value while some greater fool gets the sub-Cs the that New York has to put in play.
not sure that I follow. I’m not a Bankee fan but they are overflowing with catching prospects. They don’t have much else interesting tho.
So LaLoosh, I don’t buy that the Yankees have a single guy who will both a) catch and b) hit. This is the same old ‘They must be good cause they’re YANKEES’ chat. As ever. Let’s see what Sanchez does in the high minors, I’m not even convinced of his bat, fer cryin’ out loud. The other guys are back-ups if they pan out.
I’m not frankly sold on Mike Zunino, he really needs to refine his approach at the plate. But Zunino is, already, a vastly better catcher than anybody the Yankees have under contract will ever be. So again, there’s no match up. If some greater fool thinks Sanchez makes the good anchor for a three-team deal, they can back up the pick up and haul him away. But the Mariners don’t need him. BTW the Mariners also have Tyler Marlette, a much underrated prospect. To me, Marlette is at least as good as Sanchez now; we’ll know better by the end of 2014.
Don’t buy the hype is all I’m saying. The Sanchez situation is classic ‘grade inflation.’ Until this offseason, everybody saw the holes, because there were plenty of them. This offseason because, well, there’s nobody better than him in the Yankers org, he’s getting lost of nice remarks—without really having changed his approach or put up substantially better results. I’m happy to have Sanchez prove me wrong, it’s just that I don’t see he’s done that yet; all the movement in his evaluations are the results of perspective rather than real results. And nobody behind him at all in the org.
Why not keep him, use him as a utility player for a season, and put him at DH once there’s an opening.
I don’t think that bat’ll play at DH.
I don’t think it’s blasphemous to think Nick Franklin could outhit Logan Morrison or Justin Smoak. Could happen.
That’s a fair point!
Nick Franklin is actually better than most people think. Those who haven’t seen him play judge him by the numbers he put up last year, which are deceiving. Those who saw him play judge him by how he performed while not being completely healthy. This guy is able to get on base and he can drive the ball. As he matures and adapts to the pitching he should cut down the strike outs. He could very well put up numbers like, 15HRS 10SB .260 BA .330 OBP, those numbers could get better as he gets older. Some team is going to get a really good deal for him.
nobody is debating his hitting doofus
The last couple of paragraphs of the article suggest there is such a debate.
Personally, I think he’ll hit well enough to cover for the d.
Love the use of ‘literally’ twice in the (1) which I can only assume is mocking the rather unfortunate common usage of the word literally to mean “not literally; I just really, really, REALLY want to emphasize this point”
Which “begs the question”…
Seems the question is not whether Franklin is a league average shortstop, but it seems we are trying to find out if he is above average. With his age, skill already demonstrated, he should be able to handle SS at an average or below average clip in his first season. If he sticks, I’m sure he improves.
Jeff posits two questions, but only answers one. Why are all the pitchers dying (that is, needing Tommy John surgery — or even their 2nd TJ surgery)?
I played middle infield with him in highschool he’ll turn into a stud give it time