Jeff Francis Picking Up Not Where He Left Off

After 24 starts in 2008, Colorado Rockies’ ace Jeff Francis clearly wasn’t right. He was 4-10 with a 5.01 ERA and was giving up more home runs than he had at any point since he rookie season.

Francis has impressed over two starts

As it turns out, Francis was pitching with a sore shoulder for the majority of the season and in February of 2009, Francis underwent surgery to repair his labrum in his pitching shoulder. In turn, Francis missed all of the 2009 season.

Now Francis is healthy and is making an impact for the Rockies. Francis shutdown the Washington Nationals giving up just two runs and seven hits over seven innings of work. On Saturday, Francis was at it again.

Despite suffering from a case of strep throat, Francis blanked the Kansas City Royals for 6.1. Francis walked two, gave up five hits, and K’d three in those 6.1 innings of work.

Now I know what you are going to say; “Anyone can shutdown the Royals.” While that may be true to an extent, the Royals did come into Saturday’s game winners of seven out of their last nine and had scored 27 runs in their previous three games.

I had the opportunity to watch Francis pitch on Saturday and he would have succeeded against any lineup. His fastball was around 89-91 all day, he was hitting his spots, and was featuring a wicked curveball. Francis also featured an Andy Pettitte-like pick off move that picked off two Royals’ baserunners.

I know two starts is a small sample size, but it seems like Francis has learned how to “pitch” instead of just “throw” after his shoulder surgery. Sometimes it takes an injury to a pitcher to make him realize how to really pitch.

Through two games, Francis is mixing up his pitches more (throwing his changeup more than ever around 26 percent of the time), which is keeping hitters off balance, and in turn, is inducing more groundballs — 55 percent through two games, which is pretty remarkable.

If Francis can stay healthy and complete his comeback, the Rockies will have a very solid one-two punch with him and NL Cy Young favorite Ubaldo Jimenez.

Francis is pitching really well right now, which is not where he left off in 2008.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg