Maikel Franco’s 2015 season gave us something to dream on

The rookie looked like the next great Phillies third baseman

One of the biggest problems with the Phillies’ rebuilding efforts post-2011 is that their farm system wasn’t supplying the type of prospect that would lead to a quick turnaround. Players like Cody Asche and David Buchanan weren’t going to be integral parts of any playoff teams.

But Maikel Franco? He was supposed to be something they could build around.

Signed as an international free agent out of the Dominican Republic, Franco rapidly ascended the Phillies’ system and after an outstanding 2013 season split between Clearwater and Reading, he was given the Paul Owens Award as the team’s minor league player of the year.

He found himself in the top 50 of most prospect rankings, and with a combination of power hitting and highlight-film defense, the Phillies hoped he could carry on the franchise’s legacy of star third baseman like Mike Schmidt.

Franco made his major league debut as a September callup in 2014, but the 22-year-old (what was that about the Phillies always waiting too long to promote prospects?) didn’t look quite ready. He put up a slash line of .179/.190/.214 in 16 games.

For 2015, the third base job seemed like his to win, but at the conclusion of Spring Training, the team said that he still needed work in the minors. Surely, that decision was strictly due to on field concerns and had nothing to do with manipulating his service time to delay his free agency by a year.

Franco raked in the minors, and coincidentally, just as the magical service time date passed, the team concluded that he was now ready to play in the majors.

Franco became the Phillies’ starting third baseman, but he once again didn’t get off to a fast start and was batting just .194 at the end of May. But things quickly improved after that. Franco put up an OPS of 1.039 with eight home runs in June, and while he cooled down from that blistering pace, he was still putting up good numbers that put him into Rookie of the Year conversation.

Unfortunately, that dream died on August 8th when he was hit on the wrist by Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Randall Delgado. Franco’s season was over but for a handful of games at the end of the season.

It looked like the Phillies had a solid piece to build around, but baseball history shows us that rookie seasons aren’t always good predictors as to how a player’s career will go. Franco hit 25 home runs in 2016, but his overall game seemed to take a step back.

Over the next few seasons, Franco would show flashes, (remember when he was the “best eight-hole hitter in baseball?”) but he could never sustain the success.

It would seem like he was going well for a bit, but then you’d look up and he was in the midst of a 2-20 stretch at the plate. The lasting memory of Franco was his helmet flying off as he rolled another ground ball to shortstop.

Eventually, the team gave up on him and allowed him to reach free agency after 2019. He bounced around the majors for a few years, but never did much to make the Phillies regret letting him go. He eventually made his way to the Japanese Nippon Professional League where he remains to this day.

The future would eventually get brighter for the Phillies after the dismal 2015 season. But to the surprise of most who watched him during that season, Franco was not part of that brighter future.