June 22: The Rays have made it official. Franco’s contract has been selected from Triple-A Durham. He’s batting second in tonight’s lineup and playing third base in his Major League debut.
June 20: The Rays announced they’ll select the contract of top infield prospect Wander Franco prior to Tuesday’s game against the Red Sox. Tampa Bay has lost six straight, falling half a game behind Boston in the American League East. With a three-game series against the division leaders upcoming, the Rays have decided it’s time to bring up the league’s most heralded prospect.
Franco, 20, is seen by public prospect rankers as a transcendent talent. Baseball America has ranked him the game’s top prospect in each of the past two seasons, calling him an “exceptionally advanced” hitter with potential plus raw power and average defense at shortstop. In February, Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs ranked Franco as the only 80-grade prospect around baseball, placing him in a tier of his own among non-MLB players. Longenhagen projects him as a top-of-the-scale hitter, raving about his bat control, pitch recognition and raw power, and calls him a possible “generational talent and annual MVP contender.” Keith Law of the Athletic praised Franco’s “ridiculous hand speed,” incredible plate discipline and above-average power projection, suggesting he should immediately be able to post a high batting average and on-base percentage and could be “an MVP candidate at his peak.”
Not only does Franco check all the boxes from a visual evaluation perspective, his minor league performance has been truly incredible. Despite being young for every level at which he’s played, Franco has compiled a .333/.400/.538 line in parts of three professional seasons. He reached Triple-A Durham for the first time in 2021 and showed no signs of slowing down. Through 173 plate appearances with the Bulls, Franco has hit .323/.376/.601 with seven homers despite being the league’s youngest player. Out of 102 qualified hitters in Triple-A East, the switch-hitting Franco ranks seventeenth in on-base percentage and seventh in slugging percentage.
As one might expect for someone who draws such praise for his hit tool, Franco has very rarely gone down on strikes in the minors. His 11.6% strikeout rate in Triple-A this season is the highest of his career, and that’s still less than half the MLB average mark of 23.4%. Over the course of his minor league career, Franco has punched out in just 7.9% of his plate appearances while walking a strong 10% of the time.
Franco is the most talented of a trio of very highly-regarded infield prospects in the Rays system (alongside Taylor Walls and Vidal Bruján). That glut of high minors talent no doubt played a role in Tampa Bay’s decision to trade shortstop Willy Adames to the Brewers for relievers J.P. Feyereisen and Drew Rasmussen last month. Walls got his first big league call in the immediate aftermath of that deal. He’s played quite well, hitting .237/.356/.355 over his first 90 MLB plate appearances while playing strong defense at shortstop.
Walls is generally regarded as a superior defender to Franco, so it remains to be seen precisely how manager Kevin Cash will deploy a talented infield mix that also includes Brandon Lowe, Joey Wendle, Yandy Díaz and Ji-Man Choi. Regardless of whether the Rays immediately install Franco as the primary shortstop or bounce him around the diamond (he’s seen some action at both second and third base in Durham this year in case he’s needed to play a multi-positional role), it’s safe to assume he’ll be in the lineup on a more-or-less everyday basis in some capacity.
Franco is not yet on the 40-man roster, so the Rays will need to make another move to formally accommodate the selection of his contract. We’re well past the point on the calendar at which a newly-promoted player can accumulate a full year of MLB service. Even if Franco sticks in the majors from here on out, the Rays will thus be able to control him through the end of the 2027 season.
He also seems highly unlikely to crack the Super Two threshold for early arbitration eligibility during the 2023-24 offseason. Franco will earn somewhere in the neighborhood of 105 days of MLB service this year if he remains on the big league roster. That’d put him at approximately 2.105 years at the end of the 2023 campaign. In recent seasons, the Super Two cutoff has come in at 2.115 years of service or above. In all likelihood, Franco won’t reach arbitration eligibility until the conclusion of the 2024 season.
Rays fans will be thrilled to get their first look at a player they no doubt hope will become the face of the franchise. Franco has as good a chance as anyone in the minors of emerging as a true superstar over the coming seasons, and the organization believes him capable of making an immediate impact in the 2021 pennant race. The game has seen an influx of fantastic young talents in recent years. By all accounts, Franco has a reasonable shot to become the next member of that group.
Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (Twitter link) first reported Franco’s impending call-up.
Wandervision is coming to Tampa…
Well now you just put the hex on him Agatha Harkness.
Hits for average.
Hits for power.
Average defensive skills at shortstop.
MVP candidate at his peak.
MLB debut at Age 20.
Sounds like Xander 2.0
Wander Franco is 2 for 12 thus far, all against Red
Sox pitching. He has also made several mental errors in the field that have cost the Rays a couple of runs.
Pardon me guys. I just moved out from under my rock. Who is this guy? Will he be able to hit Nolan Ryan’s fastball?
As good as this kid is supposed to be even at Nolan’s current age i’d still say no
It was Adames all along!
Rays only really doing this cause they’re scared of the Toronto blue jays signing of John Axford
Guess again. The Rays don’t play in Tampa.
Hope this dude lights it up, but he is just 20. Also hoping Rays fans don’t treat him like Mariners treated Kelenic or Angels treated Adell if he struggles in his first taste of big league pitching.
Maybe they just haven’t had much to complain about or maybe they have taken on the identity of their front office, but I rarely see/hear a Rays fan get worked up or be silly with anything really.
Rays dont have fans, that’s why
Fans can’t complain when you doing have fan lol
Smd
Gosh.
You guys are typically such a friendly lot too.
Kelenic was like 8-83 or something god awful, and his at bats didn’t look great. He had a handful of games above Double-A upon promotion. Sending him back down for daily at bats was a valid decision.
I am not talking about sending him down. I’m talking about the fans actually acting as if Kelenic was a bust.
The fact that people are smart enough to learn how to log onto this site and type out their thoughts, but don’t understand that all prospects have literally 7 years to become regulars on their MLB teams is so mind boggling to me.
I mean there’s literally commenters in here saying “Kelenic was bad at 21 with no games played last year, so that means he’s DONE” when like, Max Muncy and JD Martinez exist…just proves the quality of comments here has been down bad for a while (although Steve Nebraska isnt a part of this).
Muncy and Martinez are outliers. Most prospects are pretty much duds if they don’t have success by age 26 but luckily Kelenic is, what? 21? He’ll be fine.
Some fans, specifically some Mariners fans, can be excused for the frustration and confusion. After that bone head team president stepped on his own tongue; every writer – including some MLBTR writers – jumped on the idea that Kelenic needed to be called up. He had barely a cup of coffee in AAA and the press diluted the fan base into thinking that he was ready and should be called up. Also I think some of the uber prospects that have made immediate impact at the MLB level has spoiled us into thinking that every big prospect should be just as impactful immediately.
Yep
@Cosmos2 There’s simply too many examples to call them “outliers” at this point. To be on the smart side, I will give any pro baseball player to the age of 35 to get good at MLB before I write them off. Rich Hill also exists. The paths to MLB outside of the “traditional” one are many and varied at this point. We can no longer call these players outliers or expect any player’s route to MLB to be the same anymore.
Steve –
Remember how horrible A-Rod and Mike Trout were in their first call ups? People have a very short memory/attention span these days. Hell, even Mickey Mantle struggled mightily his during his first call up.
I hope he is a avg player.
A’s fan: true, “outlier” is too strong a term. Still, the probability is against a player finding sudden success in their late 20s and this game is all about putting forth the best probability to win. Relying on a very unusual development pattern is low probability and thus, a bad plan.
What fans?
Kelenic is not any good, just a player that kills minor league pitching and is clueless in my majors.
Jimmy, what are you even talking about? I was going to type much more about how you are wrong, but I feel like I would be stating the obvious. The dude was drafted in 2018 and you’re acting like he’s been s****ing the bed for years and we’ve seen all he’s capable of doing.
@jimmy right now. You left out “clueless in the majors right now” he eventually will not be clueless, because he’s 21 years old. This is normal.
@egon spengler – wrong wrong wrong, he absolutely did not “HAVE TO RAKE” he’s 21 years old: no MLB ever puts that on anyone that age. Its more like “oh wow, lets see what happens!” – Kelenic has until 25 to prove himself in MLB whether you like it or not.
@AsfaninUK. You’re responding to a guy that is trumpeting the fact he is on his 15th account.
@WarkMohlers ugh.
Im not a Mariners fan as my name would show but remember when Trout struggled his first callup to the show and they sent him back down. Glad they didnt label him clueless at that point.
Complete idiot you are.
Jimmyduz0523 –
You’re clearly a troll who lives in momma’s basement at 42 years old. You’re really cool and we all admire your baseball intellect. Glad you’ve got so much time on your hands and the emotional/intellectual IQ to keep coming up with this ridiculous crap
Nobody ever hire jimmyduzo523 as a scout. Not if you wanna win.
….which is why you’re an anonymous internet commenter and not a professional talent evaluator.
As a jays fan hopefully he does better the bladdy did his first 1.5 years. Seem like similar age and numbers thru the minors, good luck young man just dont kill my jays
Because leaving top prospects up to figure things out when they’re completely lost is the right thing to do?
You can argue that neither Kelenic nor Adell were ready when they were called, but they weren’t able to adjust. Kelenic was in an insane slump and pressing (his own words). Contact, Oswing & Ks were getting worse, so yiu can’t just right it off as bad BABIP. Needed more seasoning.
Hopefully Franco won’t stuggle like they did, but a return to AAA wouldn’t mean the death of his career, nor would it mean Tampa’s handling him wrong.
Dude this went from a Wander Franco discussion to a Jared Kelenic Debate
The discussion wandered.
Angels fans in general are delusional, just like their owner. Their fans act like their teams just one player away from winning the pennant and WS. I remember last year my coworker in the office said that Jo Adell will be far better than Verdugo. And when Adell cant hit consistent, he said Adell was a bust. Sadly, this kind of fans who cheers for the Angels, theres A LOT like them.
Except, Wander’s actually a good hitter.
As with any prospect, I expect early struggles. Guys like Soto, Acuna, and Tatis, who are stars as soon as they get in the batter’s box, are rare. More common are guys like Vlad, Jr., who take a year or two to start living up to their potential, or guys who start off white hot, then struggle as pitchers adjust, and then make their own adjustments and start to rise above the rest. Agree completely on the Kelenic and Adell comment.
let it begin
Is “birdsfan” Orioles fan? Either way, this will be great for baseball and of course the Rays.
it is Orioles fan unfortunately. even as a division rival i can’t wait to watch Brujan, Walls, and Franco together
Team on a 6 game skid, facing the division rival Red Sox. No pressure Wander!
Seriously, hope they’re not rushing him. This kid is oozing with skills. Should be a superstar as he matures and develops those tools. Think Vlad, Jr but a better glove.
I was fortunate enough to see him at two games at Durham in May. He’s ready. The only question was whether they’d bring him up before Brujan.
@86mets Wander and Juan Soto are similar MLB-quality hitters. Look up Soto’s MILB numbers and Wanders and boom. Expect similar quality / also expect TB to win the East with this move.
The news will double attendance at the Trop Tuesday night….might crack 10.000, even…..
We’re playing the Red Sux so all the carpetbaggers would have been in attendance anyway.
De lo mio yeah
Thought for sure Brujan would be up before Franco.
Never made any sense, Brujan is half the player Wander is (and Brujan is a MLB-level talent). You don’t keep Wander (or Soto, or Kris Bryant-types who are utterly destroying MILB, down there – literally no point, just stealing lifetime MLB stats away from them).
The new era begins… let’s go!
The dude’s a beast. Think Guerrero Jr. with more pure hitting ability, less power, and speed and defense. MLB and its fans are being spoiled with the crazy young talent about nowadays.
“Think Guerrero Jr, but nothing like him!”
Exactly like that only entirely different.
I have to agree, it was moreso the pedigree facet.
More like think a Jose Ramirez clone.
For the record, Vladdy is WAY faster than people assume from his size.
He’s a fantastic athlete .
He’s a bust, only bec the hype is too big.
Yankees fan?
Remember when LeBron was coming up? Turns out some people do live up to the hype.
Despicable is making a valid point. Expectations are unbelievably high. What if his first two seasons his slash line looks like:
Rookie season .270/.340/.477
Sophomore season .274/.368/.486
Wouldn’t this then be a disappointing start to his career despite in a vacuum everyone should be VERY happy with that kind of production? If you don’t think this would be the case just ask Bryce Harper.
Depends on who you ask. I’d say producing 8.5 fWar in your first two seasons is pretty spectacular. Outside of Trout, Betts, Guerrero, Tatis, and Acuna, how many other position players have consistently produced 4.0+ fWar annually right out of the gate?
What did you think of Juan Soto? Same thing, right?
Exactly. Stop talking.
If Walls and Franco can hold down SS and 2B/3B wonder if they would move Lowe for pitching. Schzerer?
Rays can’t afford Scherzer, nor would they move Lowe. Rays always value depth and versatility. Lowe gives you both.
Idk. They had almost an $80 mill payroll in ’18. Unlikely but an interesting idea. If they would ever make such a power move this year may have the planets aligning correctly.
Yeah, I don’t see Lowe going anywhere. Hasn’t played well enough to interest other teams, and I expect bounce back in second half.
@Sideline Redwine Wrong
They had little problem moving Adames who was doing worse offensively. If Walls and Franco play Lowe becomes somewhat redundant with Wendle, Diaz and Choi on board. Plus Brujan in the wings. Amazes me how much excess talent capital TB might have on hand.
Rays could see what they can get for Xavier Edwards #
As a Phillies fan it is foreign to me to have a top prospect. What is that like? Hope he does well.
It’s awesome for like 3 years until they get traded and a little piece of your soul goes with them
If only we could give a 200mil payroll to a team who could use it. The Rays would be unstoppable with that kid of cash.
You summed it up perfectly. Glad there remains enough of you to be here.
Bohm??? Oops… sorry. I know what you mean.
Steve Nebraska are u a yankee fan
No
Steve, which of these eight Nebraskans has had the most impact on Americana:
1) Johnny Carson
2) Warren Buffett
3) Steve Nebraska
4) Penny Hofstadter
5) Buffalo Bill
6) Bob Gibson
7) Marlon Brando
8) Grover Cleveland Alexander
Has to Buffet right since he’s pledged to give most of his wealth to the Gates Foundation? But Steve is a close second because he’s James Bond.
Brando, but solid list.
I’m gonna go with Steve Nebraska tbh
The security guard at Nebraska Furniture Mart.
All Star floor, Hall of Fame ceiling
Finally.
Now, bring Brujan, Lowe, and Patino up and we are talking. I love Phillips and Brosseau, but those guys are not starter-level MLB players. Sorry. I have always liked Diaz, but singles and walks w no speed don’t help that much. We need a RHP for the rotation, Patino might help there.
At least we are getting Wander.
After reading this thread, I am reminded of how many fools “follow” baseball. “The Rays have no fans duh”…is that really the most you can contribute here?
Rays have tons of fans they just don’t want to drive 45 minutes to a warehouse of a stadium. I’ll be at the game tomorrow tho. LFG!
Love the Rays, absolutely detest the stadium and the owner. Warehouse??? You’re being too kind. More like a water storage tank. When the owner shows he gives a crap, maybe I’ll take the drive again.
RaysFan, see ya there my friend.
Guessing Yandy will be gone after today
Yandy is an especially good bench player though.
DH for somebody because no room for Lowe in OF.
I’m expecting something akin to Jose Ramirez-level offense with excellent SS defense from day one.
Hahahaha…..hahahaha…..hahahaha…..
Jram is outstanding, Wander is also outstanding. Low K’s, high BA, high power, solid d, solid baserunning. Juan Soto exists and was better than any LF in MLB from his first day in the game. Casual take. Learn more and stop being a homer.
Excellent SS defense from day 1? From a guy whose scouting report says he will top out as an average SS? It’s starting already.
Yup, because I have ACTUALLY WATCHED HIM PLAY! He’s going to be great out there. High IQ players like him are always strong defenders.
You have not even watched him play, but because you hate the game and care more about headlines than gameplay, you WANT him to fail! Go away! People like you are what’s wrong with game.
I have watched Franco play. I have watched Baez play. I have watched Lindor play. Those guys are special on defense, Franco is not. That’s not a problem, it’s just reality.
Juan Soto has average defense and a weak arm. Guerrero is overweight and plays bad defense. Tatis has a cannon arm and all the physical ability in the world but he makes bad throws. Nobody is perfect. Neither is Wander Franco.
BTW your response is what I would expect from a grounded child.
I can bet that you are from PR.
As a matter of fact I am Boricua.
Yeah, I noticed that just by what you said.
This is great for baseball.
What are y’all talking about I am a kelenic fan
If Yandy becomes available id like to see Farhan make a play for him.
This will be fun to watch him. Looking forward to it
I grabbed him immediately for my fantasy team so I hope he does well.
Tatis, ohtani, soto, acuña, blady, franco and many more , the future of mlb looks great.
You are correct (dont forget Olson+Chapman+Laureano!), but sadly we can’t tell from listening to any gray-haired “the problem with the game is…” commentator or by the way MLB markets its players.
MLB is marketing the crap out of Tatis, Ohtani, Vlad, and Acuna. Do they even market baseball in the UK?
Outside of MLB Network – how? Where? I’m talking about how MLB markets almost none of their players, compared to how they did in the 80s and 90s. Basically only like 10% of Americans can even identify Mike Trout in a lineup, whereas MLB players were legit celebrities up until the 2000’s. Trout would be in his 3rd big Hollywood movie by now if he existed in the 80s.
MLB has failed in this harder than ever before. It became “faceless players/support the team, not the players” throughout MLB media. We can’t even watch games on normal TV anymore. No idea what you mean by “marketing the crap out of” – Tatis’s gatorade commercials are like, the bare minimum. MLB has become a closed off game to America – which sucks, because it’s America’s game.
In the 80’s MLB seemed to market players and their personalities to young kids. Shows like TWiB were great. Doesn’t seem like they do that anymore.
If you’re excited now, just wait for the upcoming lockout!
really excited about this. he’s such a great player. but also tempering expectations. vlad jr took a bit to adjust to MLB pitching and now look at him.
I think the weight loss and feeling comfortable playing 1B helped Vlad.
Franco could stand to do better by not trying to steal bases as his base stealing percentages are bad
now that he’s in Tampa he’ll win a Cy Young…wait, ive got my clichés mixed up.
Clichés and cities mixed up. The Rays don’t play in Tampa…
You are factually incorrect. The Rays don’t play in Tampa.
“ Franco will earn somewhere in the neighborhood of 105 days of MLB service this year if he remains on the big league roster. That’d put him at approximately 2.105 years at the end of the 2023 campaign. In recent seasons, the Super Two cutoff has come in at 2.115 years of service or above. In all likelihood, Franco won’t reach arbitration eligibility until the conclusion of the 2024 season.”
100% coincidence
I feel like this is like beating a dead horse. Service time manipulation for super prospects is the norm, not the exception. It was agreed upon during the previous CBA. Perhaps the vets in the game throw young players a bone in the upcoming negotiations.
i mean, it’s also so easy to argue. i mean, if they wait at all its service time manipulation, and if they wait until around now its alleged super two. are we going to allege service time for anyone promoted later this year? when is it valid to bring guys up, because teams arent just always going to give prospects valuable 40 man spots off the bat just because armchair GMs are angry and believe these guys should be called up.
Except these aren’t armchair GM’s that believe these prospects are ready to take the leap. There are a lot of writers I enjoy reading and respect their extensive experience with independent scouting. And often they’ll obtain direct quotes from other team execs and scouts outside from other teams. I do see your point though. Who knows their own prospects more than the organization they play for?
I love lamp.
Don’t give him any beer after he wins the game for you guys, he is too young…..
In related news, the Rays have announced their intent to trade Wander Franco, recognizing his asset value will never be higher than it is right now.
Whatever the Rays are doing, it’s working.
What a treat! Wander will succeed because the Rays never do any moves without totally thinking it through. I suspect a big trade is about to happen with some infielders. Maybe Lowe, Walls or on base machine Diaz.? I will be at the first Wander Franco game for baseball history.
Walls isn’t going anywhere. The RFO learned their lesson by letting Cronenworth slip away.
Wouldn’t need to DFA him. He’s still an average run producer with upside. But you would have to package him with a decent prospect to get something impactful.
So now the pressure is on the O’s to bring up Adley, who’s 3 years older anyway. If a contending team can bring up a 20 year old kid , why can’t a team that’s out of it bring up a 23 year old college educated young man?
Answer: no reason at all.
It’s a complete disgrace ! Him Bart Wander and more should have all started the season in majors if not played last season….
You get that result when u send current major leaguers to negotiate with the attorneys of the richest men in the world
Bart was lost at the plate last year, didn’t tear the cover off the ball, and needed AAA reps. He isn’t tearing the cover off the ball in AAA and his current performance suggests he is right where he needs to be developmentally – which is where he would’ve been last year.
I get that he’s performed well in AAA, but as patient as the Rays usually are, this feels like they’re rushing him a little. They’ve earned the benefit of the doubt in evaluating and developing talent, but I’m still surprised. I didn’t expect him up until sometime in late July or August.
Look at Juan Soto – do you think he was “rushed”? And even if they do “rush” him and he OPSs like .700, who cares! That’s an MLB player, just like Vlad was last year.
So sick of conservative takes like these – baseball players play from like age 5 and have been playing every day since. Some of them dont need more than a couple weeks at AAA – Wander didn’t need any time IMO (as someone who has actually watched him play – different to you twitter narratives and bad stat interpreters). MANY TEENAGE PLAYERS ARE READY NOW! And always have been. We lose parts of their MLB careers by worthlessly making them OPS 1.000 at AAA for too long – they learn nothing by mashing AAAA pitching, MLB is the ONLY level of competition for a lot of prospects these days – thats a FACT many old baseball fans need to learn.
Just a heads up, a lot of Latin players never play an actual organized game of baseball until they sign. They essentially go to baseball bootcamps for years and years that teach them to throw hard, run fast, and hit it far. Very few competitive games get played. Watch a DSL game. It’s like watching a LL game but everyone’s throwing 90.
That said, I agree with your point. A guy hitting over .330 4 years younger than the league and walking as much as he strikes out (basically what Soto was doing before he made the jump), there is no rushing that. He has nothing more to learn in the minors.
I agree, the formulaic, overly drawn out way we trod minor leaguers through the system is archaic and plodding. So many players could be ready at 21 or 22 or even younger. I’m not even talking about stars. How many players that fail, debuting at 24 or 25 but they could have been a utility guy or a 4th OFr at 21 but instead we keep them in the minors til they’re 26 and they’ve missed their prime. Basically, more players should be brought up sooner, allowed to skip levels.
There have been 3 eras where a LOT of kids made the majors by age 21, many of them before age 20
That happens, generally when
(a) a particular generation is LOADED with talent, while
(b) the players they are replacing aren’t as good, individually, and as a group
When that happens, you wind up with a TON of 15-20 plus year careers, because, generally,
(c) the NEXT generation are not good enough to replace them
This could be bad news for the rest of the division for more reasons than one. The Rays have suffered a 6-game losing streak, and I have to wonder if the loss of their ace, Tyler Glasnow, sapped their confidence somewhat. The arrival of Franco could counter that a bit, or maybe a lot.
I’m guessing the adding of a Jose Ramirez-type bat at SS will see them outscore everyone. Wander is replacing Adames (.625 OPS) and will have Taylor Walls (.707 OPS) backing him up on the bench.
TB’s bench of Walls, Yandy, Phillips and Mejia is deadly. Add in a possible Brujan trade for pitching and TB is as easy money as it comes if you are talking playoff berths. Ignore what happened in Seattle, everyone needs to start fearing them now.
Brujan isn’t getting traded. Expect one or more of Wendle, Diaz, KK, or Brosseau to be dealt.
Brujan is not better than those guys though.
Brosseau maybe. Although his value is down and he’s only really a platoon type vs lefties.
Rays Season Ticket Holder here (yes we exist…dozens of us actually!). The truth is, the fan base is as excited about this call up as we were when David Price got the nod in 2008, and pitched out of the bullpen in the postseason. This team was ROLLING, and then lost every single game since Glasnow went down with his injury. We need another slugger, so a switch hitting contact & power prospect?! Yes please! Now trade from our absurd riches in the minors and land Scherzer for a rental to replace Glasnow…and all will be fine (I’ll take moves that have zero chance in hell of ever happening for $600, Alex).
“Rays Season Ticket Holder here (yes we exist…dozens of us actually!)”
I had to upvote that.
Dozens, soon to be scores!
Cupboard’s bare in ny.
I just read a brief biography on Wander. One thing that stood out to me was he dropped out of school after 6th grade to work on baseball. That is amazing and I wish him the best.
I have been waiting for this day for 3+ years. Has nothing more to prove in the Minors.
Now trade KK and Diaz for some pitching and call up Vidal Brujan and let him patrol CF
This is one of my favorite stats I’ve seen about Wander so far. From Rays Metrics.
Since FanGraphs began tracking minor league stats in 2006, there have only been 3 hitters to post a 150 wRC+ or better while also striking out less than 12% of the time. Career minors:
Franco
.332/.398/.536, 7.9 K%
Vlad Jr.
.331/.414/.531, 11.0 K%
Betts
.316/.408/.472, 10.4 K%
How has TB’s player development been of recent? I hope the kid has a good ML career, but I also hope he doesn’t get the Trytoohards right out of the gate.
He’s not playing SS? Absolute rubbish. Why do MLB teams do this? Stop playing young guys out of position from day one, let them establish themselves where they are most comfortable first, then move them if they’re unplayable. Wander is not unplayable at SS and Walls is not inherently better than him defensively.
Not what every scouting report I can find suggests but I’ll take your word for it.
for the last 2 years Wander has been rotating between 3rd, short and 2nd just like almost every infielder the Rays have.
and yes Taylor Walls is one of the best defenders in the whole organization, certainly better at short than Wander is right now
Wander did not disappoint. Crushed his first Homer of off ERod.
The Rays made a mistake bringing this guy up.
Sincerely yours,
A Red Sox fan