Why Jason Heyward (baseball) isn’t Jeff Francoeur (football)
Jason Heyward rounds third after his Opening Day homer. (AJC photo by Phil Skinner)
Both were first-round draft picks from the Atlanta suburbs, both right fielders. Both hit home runs in their first big-league games, each against the Cubs. Both were given the Sports Illustrated treatment in the early days of their rookie seasons. But if you ask in the Braves’ clubhouse about further similarities between Jeff Francoeur and Jason Heyward, you won’t find many.
What you’ll hear instead is an admission of a key difference: That one was a football player, while the other is a baseball player.
The intent isn’t to belittle Francoeur, who had three good-to-excellent seasons as a Brave. He hit .300 as a rookie in 2005 and drove in more than 100 runs in 2006 and 2007. But when his early blush of success faded, it spawned a full-blown backlash fueled by a fundamental flaw: Francoeur swung at everything, and when in doubt he swung harder.
That was the football player in him. (Again, we must stipulate: Francoeur was a great high school football player.) A football player believes nothing can’t be fixed by sheer effort. It’s one of the reasons that oft-cited criticism of the Braves in postseason — that they weren’t “emotional enough” — was such a canard. Untrammeled emotion in baseball doesn’t make you Joe DiMaggio; it makes you an easy out.
Baseball is a game of skill and precision, not strength and mass. It’s noteworthy that Heyward, who grew up in a football state, never played the sport. (According to Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports, Heyward’s dad wouldn’t let him.) And here we come to the fundamental difference between the two: Francoeur, who’s a bright guy, always seemed to fall back on raw talent no matter how many coaches he consulted, while Heyward has fused a happier amalgam of ability and analysis.
Jeff Francoeur belts his debut homer. (AP photo)
I saw Francoeur in a playoff doubleheader at Parkview High. He swung at the first pitch five times. He went 1-for-7, the hit being a home run. We contrast this with Heyward, who while playing for Henry County High often left scouts disappointed because he walked too much. In his SI story, Tom Verducci quotes an unnamed Cleveland official — the Indians owned the 13th pick in the 2007 draft, one ahead of the Braves — as saying, “We didn’t see him swing the bat enough to feel comfortable taking him that high.”
It took Francoeur 128 big-league plate appearances to draw a walk; it took Heyward 16. In 70 games as a rookie, Francoeur walked 11 times; in 40 games, Heyward has walked 25 times. One was all exuberance (sometimes irrational); the other is patience personified.
As John Perrotto noted in Baseball Prospectus, when Heyward hit .103 over from Games 11 through 20 the Braves advised him “to be more aggressive early in the count and consider swinging at more first pitches.“ This from the same voices — Bobby Cox and Terry Pendleton — who could never convince Francoeur not to swing so early and so often.
Which only goes to show: A manager or a coach can talk until the cows come home, but it’s difficult for a player to change who he is. Yogi Berra swung at lousy pitches but was good enough to hit them. Ted Williams never had a 200-hit season — Ichiro Suzuki has never not had a 200-hit season — because he refused to swing at anything that wasn’t a strike. (Rule No. 1 in Williams’ “The Science of Hitting”: “Get a good pitch to hit.”)
What worked for Francoeur worked well enough for Sports Illustrated to dub him “The Natural,” but then it stopped working. He’s hitting .219 for the Mets, and his on-base percentage is a lamentable .278. As the ballpark bromide goes: Talent can get you to the majors, but talent alone won’t keep you there. You have to keep adjusting, keep thinking.
As well as Heyward plays the game, he thinks it even better. Last month he walked by Pendleton en route to the batting cage, and the hitting coach asked if, seeing as how Colorado lefthander was that day’s starter, Heyward would like a lefthander to throw to him. “No,” he said. “The last time I hit against a lefty [in BP], I went 0-for-3.”
Five hours later, Jason Heyward came to bat with two out in the ninth inning. He took the first four pitches. Then he won the game with an opposite-field single. Jeff Francoeur might well have won the same game — he had some big hits, let’s remember — but he wouldn’t have won it the same way.
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217 comments Add your comment
longtimedawgfan
May 27th, 2010
10:46 am
On prior occasion, when I felt he deserved it, I have knocked Mr. Bradley. I also believe in giving him credit when it is due…if he is saying that no matter how good a player may be, he can always become better by listening to and taking to heart good coaching advice, then he is due credit…
gator32301
May 27th, 2010
10:57 am
great article, mark. while it is still early on in Heyward’s career, his patience at the plate will help him get through the tough stretches every player hits. the shame with francouer is he was never given the chance to make the needed improvements and adjustments in the minors. there is no guarantee it would have happened but it would have been nice to have seen it attempted.
Red Nekkerson
May 27th, 2010
11:08 am
Mark,
This is one of your best articles ever. It says a lot about Heyward & Francouer, but nearly as much about the Braves organization. Heyward succeeds in spite of the organization. Francouer could not.
I look forward to Bobby’s retirement. With a new manager, we might get coaches who can teach the rest of the Braves how to hit… maybe even how to bunt or steal a base!! Francoeur had the speed to steal bases, but nobody with the Braves could teach him how to steal a base. The Braves offense has long had glaring deficiencies. Hoping for a homer is not a sound offensive strategy.
droopydawg
May 27th, 2010
11:49 am
Mr. Bradley, I think this is excellent analysis. The reason the ATL fans got on Frenchy so much (the “Benchy Frenchy” T-shirts were my favorite) is because he was such a physical talent, and it was frustrating seeing him waste it because of a lack of talent between the ears. If 45 games is any indication, this will not be the same problem for Hey.
bfred
May 27th, 2010
1:00 pm
I didn’t read this article as piling on Francouer (sp?). It was pointing out reasons why Heyward is unlikely to follow the same downward trajectory. I do think the football thing is a bit of a red herring.
Jeff’s problem is he has a huge swing and has to load up early to make sure he keeps up with fastballs. This leaves him incredibly exposed to offspeed/breaking pitches, and makes it harder to stop the swing if the ball is out of the zone. Pitchers picked up on this fact, and the rest is history. At this point he’s so far into his own head that he can’t just react – he’s trying to anticipate every pitch. When he’s right, he clearly has the ability to hit for power. But too often he’s wrong.
As for the Cox/TP effect, I find it very difficult to believe neither of them ever told him to take a pitch. Cox is loyal to a fault and would never publicy admit if he had a player that wasn’t taking coaching but that had to contribute to the AAA demotion.
BartBuzz
May 27th, 2010
1:59 pm
I liked Francouer’s exuberance. But I like Heyward’s patience more.
Nice tidbits Mr. Bradley.
don
May 27th, 2010
2:24 pm
Good analysis, Mr. Bradley. Certainly far superior to some of the snippy comments made by some of these posters about Francoeur.
I am still a big fan of Francoeur. It is very telling that so many fans of the Braves feel a need to badmouth all former Braves. Some are so ignorant as to still think that Escobar is better than Andrus and that the Braves have pitchers of the same ability as Wainwright. Nonsense.
Dan Schlossberg
May 28th, 2010
7:30 am
Very creative and well-crafted column, but wouldn’t the Braves be much better off today had they kept Francoeur instead of trading him for the worthless Ryan Church? Francoeur would still be a stud in either center or left, upgrading the Braves defensively as well as providing the righthanded power the team craves. Bringing back Andruw Jones for $500,000 would have accomplished the same objective. In fact, an outfield of Heyward, Jones, and Francoeur would be one of the best in the majors. And certainly better than the journeymen the Braves are running out there now.
JDUB
May 28th, 2010
7:40 am
The Dogfighter Returns:
I seem to remember Frenchy getting “infinite” patience for almost two complete seasons of well-below average production. He was still cheered louder than Chipper at home games and everyone from the newest fan to the owners wanted and hoped he’d turn things around. The guy ADMITTED he “kind of gave up” trying to please people while in ATL when things got rough. He also acted like a complete, and total jerk when he was sent down to AA for 3 days….3 days!!! How many other athletes are asked where they’d like to go, AA or AAA, then after 3 days get re-called after accomplishing absolutely nothing. He said it was, and I quote, “embarassing” to be send back down. Really??? What’s embarassing was his batting average and lack of production for the team. At that point, he was selling jerseys, that’s it. I wanted him to succeed. How awesome would it have been to have a home-grown guy be an all-star for the Braves for the next decade. It would have been sweet. However, him getting shipped to the METS shows exactly how bad the Braves wanted to ride themselves of them. He was affecting the coaches’ attitudes, making them second guess themselves. He was also affecting the locker room by NEVER coming through with big hit, or even a walk with two out and nobody on. Frenchy seems like a great guy who’s head is on straight in his personal life. However, his “baseball life” is on life support, and not only because of his performance, but also because of his self-entitled attitude.
JDUB
May 28th, 2010
7:57 am
Dan Schlossberg :
“In fact, an outfield of Heyward, Jones, and Francoeur would be one of the best in the majors”
ARE YOU SERIOUS??? REALLY??? Do you even watch baseball? I love Andruw, and loved Frenchy at one time, but…reallY? What are you smoking? That would be better than Kemp and Ethier in LA? Swisher, Granderson, Gardner in NYY? Ellsbury, Drew, enter name here in Boston. Have you seen Texas’ Outfield? I am HOPING your comment was made out of passion and not knowledge. You’d take a rookie that’s played 40 games, a 32 yr old OF who’s hitting .240 and stop running fast 7 years ago, and a 26 yr old that’s hitting .219 and hasn’t hit higher than .260 in almost 4 years. THAT’S THE BEST OUTFIELD IN BASEBALL? REALL??!! I’m as huge a Braves fan as you can find, have been for two decades. But some of you people have to realize that the situation the team is in now (no playoffs since 2005) is because they were so loyal to some people, they forgot they were competing in a business market. So while they were dishing out money and being loyal to Smoltz, Chipper, Maddux, Andruw, Javy (my favorite along with Gant), Giles, etc., other teams were realeasing and trading useless and/or aging players and replacing them with younger talent. That’s what ATL did this time. McClouth won’t be as good as we thought, but we gave Pitt a crappy starting pitcher as the key piece of the deal. So that was a no-brainer. We got rid of Frenchy, and didn’t have to hardly give NYM too much money to take him either. Now we have Heyward and McClouth instead of Jones and Frenchy. Also, we got rid of Vasquez who was “the best pitcher in baseball” according to some Braves fans. Now he’s 3-5 with an ERA over 5. There’s a reason we’re typing on these blogs, and not GM’s.
PH.D
May 28th, 2010
9:41 am
Everything in baseball is mind over matter. It’s a game of Zen. Talent means: becoming sharper, more sober, when everything stops and you nail the ball that vanishes.
Michael
May 28th, 2010
8:22 pm
Bud Kilmer, AAA pitching is just about equal to major league pitching? I don’t believe that for a second.
Senor Sniffle
May 28th, 2010
9:55 pm
Mark- I guess you never went to see Eric Berry play at Creekside High. You may want to go watch the Berry Twins next year. Both Berrys (Evan & Eliot) are further along than big brother at this stage of the game. They will surpass the Bailey boys before its all said and done.
Hank Still The King
May 29th, 2010
12:14 am
MB:
Give us your take. Who was a greater skinny hitter, Hammerin’ or Barry?
How old was Barry when he added body mass? The years before Barry added body mass,
what were his stats? Compare those stats to Hammerin’s. Who’s the greatest hitter and all ’round player between the two?
Derek
May 29th, 2010
2:05 am
Mark, do you look up as many words as you can that nobody knows the meaning to to try to make yourself look intelligent?
Hay
May 29th, 2010
7:43 am
As much as I liked Francoeur, & still do, Heyward is a smarter basebal man. He knows how to make the subtle adjustments, Francouer just swung harder. Mark’s right it’s the difference between the mentalities of the two sports.
Baldemar Huerta
July 23rd, 2010
3:26 am
Just think what might have been if Booby hadn’t recalled Surrender Boy after only 3 days.