Seattle Sports Insider

Nick Franklin, Sundry Q's (5)

Posted by

8/30/10

=== Dr's Prognosis ===

We're not proposing 30 homers per season for Franklin. But we are saying that there are many routes to a .500 SLG, including 35 doubles and 15 homers.

And what in Chase Utley's name is so far-fetched about Nick Franklin hitting home runs? He's hit 19 this season, as a teenager. And what is he doing in the homer derby? As against everything Franklin is doing, you're going to tell me that his weight overrules it all?

Q. Will his RH hitting eventually come up to his LH hitting?

A. I doubt it.

With many young hitters, such as Justin Smoak, you can confidently expect their RH swings to eventually catch up. The swings, and power, are reasonably similar -- and of course the brain is the same from both sides. Pitch recognition, strategy etc., you're talking about the same central nervous system.

Franklin, though, simply doesn't have this wonderful swing from the right side. Here's a YouTube of him homering from the R side. As you can see, he shows virtually none of the magic we're talking about from the left side.

It's just one vid, of course. But he's practically spastic from that side, relatively speaking, and that's totally understandable. Would Junior or Ichiro be able to switch-hit, and glide from the right side like they do from the other side? :shudder:

Here's one kid, I'd be interested in telling him to just hit left.

..................

But supposing from the R side, he does a .260/.330/.425 thing or something. That's not bad for your reverse-platoon split. I'm not sweating it, are you? Franklin isn't Justin Smoak; he doesn't need to hit 35 homers. If Franklin hits 125 OPS+ from SS, he's a franchise guy. Smoak can't really settle for 125.

Q. Is he more of an AVG guy or more of a PWR guy?

A. Again talking about him as the true LH guy that he is, I actually fancy his HIT ability even more than the way the ball jumps off his bat.

When you're talking about a kid who can get on top of the ball like Franklin does -- against competition way too advanced for him -- you're talking about an unusual kid. And in the vids you can see how sudden he is to the ball.

Though his EYE isn't great, I see him as more of a 70 HIT and a 60 PWR. Lot of the latin hitters have 70 HIT despite weird K:BB's, and remember how young he is for his league.

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Comments

Just hit from the left side

Love the mechanical breakdown, Doc, and I agree with you on his swing - there's a lot there to love, at least as a lefty.

Season line for our "overdrafted" shortstop:

.282/.355/.487/.842, 117K/49BB, 22 2B, 3 3B, 21 HR, 25/35 in steals, in full-season A-ball.

Not easy to be a 20 HR/ 20 2B/ 20 SB guy in the minors. If he's not the only one, he's close.

Watching Franklin's LH swing vs. his RH one, I would tell him to stop switch-hitting also. Just my personal opinion. He's spending a lot of time and energy trying to copy his LH swing from the right sight, to atrocious results (.524 OPS in 108 ABs). He couldn't be worse just taking everything from the left side, and he only took up switch-hitting as a junior in HS, I believe, probably because someone told him it would be valuable since he has "no power."

But he does have power, and I would spend his energy getting his LH swing to be all it can be. He doesn't need to limit downside. He's in a position where he can maximize upside. He OPS'ed .950+ as a left-handed bat with a .320 BA and a .5 batting eye, facing pitchers with 3 more years of experience than he has.

He's a left-handed genius. When a guy like Frank Frazetta had a stroke and had to figure out how to draw with his other hand - and succeeded brilliantly - you can be amazed. But unless Franklin has a stroke, I wouldn't let the switch-hitting thing go on much longer. I know he's been ridiculously unlucky from the RH side of the plate, numbers-wise...but with a swing like that I think he's making some of his own bad luck.

Let him get out of his own way with the switch-hitting, preferrably before he starts trying to hit breaking pitches in AA. He needs all the reps he can get from the side he's actually gonna use.

Agreed. I actually had

Agreed. I actually had Franklin in of my fantasy leagues, but I dropped when I saw the video Doc posted of his RH swing a couple months ago... If only I looked at his LH swing. :-)

Nice evaluation, Doc

Hands stay back, centerline of body moves (or is already, which you see much more frequently in today's players) forward = a big arc.
Big arc with quick hands = launched and sinking ropes (because those hand let you get on top of the ball)
Think Big Poppy at his peak. Or Branyan.
Or Ted Williams. Can you do a comparison of Franklin and Teddy Ballgame? He doesn't have Teddy's eye...but he has some of the ability to get to the ball.
Us golfers call that "quick wrist" idea "lag," as you know.
Lag makes power look easy and combined with a big arc gives tremendous easy speed.
Think Ernie "Big Easy" Els, or Freddy "Boom Boom" Couples, or Michelle Wie.
Watch Hogan's swing.....tremendous lag. He was the "Wee Iceman," as the Scots liked to say...but one of the longest hitters of his day.
I agree, BTW, with that left-handed swing why ever stand on the other side of the plate?
moe

Genius

He couldn't be worse just taking everything from the left side, and he only took up switch-hitting as a junior in HS, I believe, probably because someone told him it would be valuable since he has "no power."

Ding ding ding!
Now that it has become clear that he has an epic stroke from the left side, go ahead and adapt your coaching to that fact.
Great call. On this one, let's hope somebody's listening.
Talk more later gents. Gracias -

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