Rays' Wander Franco Benched At Least 2 Games for How He's Handled 'Frustrations'

Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Wander Franco is one of the team's top young talents, but his immaturity has cost him a spot in the lineup for the time being.

According to ESPN, Rays manager Kevin Cash benched Franco for at least the next two games because of how he's handled frustrating situations this season. The 22-year-old will miss Thursday's and Friday's games against the Kansas City Royals.

"Wander is a really good kid, really good person," Cash said prior to Thursday night's matchup. "He's a young player that is learning and dealing with the challenges of being a major league player, and some of the frustrations that come with it. Over the course of this season there's been probably multiple times that the way he has handled his frustrations have not been the way that we ask our players to uphold being the best teammate."

Cash didn't specify any incidents led to this decision. However, Franco has been seen giving lackluster effort while running out grounders and throwing his bat after striking out. After making two errors in one play during last Sunday's loss to the San Diego Padres, he refused to speak to reporters after the game.

"We're going to continue to support Wander as he works through this," Cash said. "I'm personally going to [help], this organization will, this staff will. We look forward to having him back."

Franco is slashing .287/.349/.455 with eight home runs and 34 RBI while adding 24 stolen bases, which ranks third in the majors.

The Rays ended a three-game skid with Wednesday's win against the Baltimore Orioles, so they will look to keep the momentum going without Franco on Thursday against the Royals.