Quick--who's the Indians third place hitter?
The line-up spot, usually designated for a team's best hitter, has recently been occupied by Ben Francisco.
Ben Francisco?
With Travis Hafner and Victor Martinez hurting, the middle of the Indians' order is patchwork. And Francisco has surprisingly been the most consistent hitter.
For most of the year, the entire Indian line-up has been struggling, even when Hafter and Martinez were playing.
Overall, the team batting average is .245 and ranks eighth in the AL in runs scored per game.
Francisco might be as unfamiliar to baseball fans as an ice cube is to the Sahara.
In parts of seven minor league seasons, he's a .291 hitter with good contact rates and stolen base totals. But a third hitter?
Never a top prospect, Francisco was selected in the fifth round and rose steadily to the majors. He's made himself into a nice player, but would never be a third hitter under different circumstances. He's simply been the most consistent since his recall from Buffalo.
Casy Blake has been on fire after struggling early, Ryan Garko has looked off-balance and Jhonny Peralta has continued to perform inconsistently since a break-out 2005.
So, the Indians better hope Francisco continues to surprise and play as well as he has because without him, this team would really be in trouble.
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3 months ago
Without Francisco the team would "really be in trouble?"
I would consider 7.5 games behind the White Sox in 4th place ALREADY in trouble!
3 months ago
There's in trouble and really in trouble and 7.5 games back is still within striking distance. They could be Seattle. Now that's really in trouble!
from 3 months ago
How do you know Cleveland isn't already Seattle? The Mariners look better than Cleveland on paper right now. We definately don't have an Ichiro or Beltre on our roster. The Mariners problem was their GM, their manager, and a bunch of high priced under acheiving players. Sounds kind of familiar. Wedge has to have pictures of Shapiro and Dolan.
3 months ago
How do I know? 35-42 compared to 28-49. 7.5 games back compared to 19.5. Need more? 4.11 Team ERA compared to 4.60, and that was done with two top 5 starters on the shelf compared to the projected top 5 of the Mariners starting almost all their games. If Martinez and Hafner come back with Carmona, this team will be better and players can slot into their proper line-up spots. I made no predictions that this team could turn things around or that they would be contenders. But, take out Francisco, insert Gutierrez, the man Ben replaced, and this team would probably be that much worse.
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