Is Wander Franco the Next Superstar?
Coming off a tough World Series loss in six games to the LA Dodgers, the Tampa Bay Rays will need to make some necessary changes in order to return to next year’s Fall Classic. The Rays have an extremely bright future (#1 farm system according to Bleacher Report) revolving around guys like Postseason breakout star and breaking ball-masher Randy Arozarena, LHP Brendan McKay, speedster 2B/SS Vidal Brujan, 20 year old 2B/SS Xavier Edwards, and many other young, bright stars currently on the roster and in the system. None of these young stars greater than MLB’s #1 prospect and 19 year old switch hitting shortstop Wander Franco. Is Franco ready for the show? Is it time for Tampa Bay to bring him up for the 2021 season?
Wander-ing to the Pros
Growing up in Bani, a costal Dominican Republic city of over 70,000 residents, Franco had been exposed to the game of baseball from birth. His father, also named Wander, was a solid ballplayer in his own right. His mother Nancy’s brothers are MLB-ers Erick Aybar and Willy Aybar, who combined had 17 total major league seasons.
Wander Franco found his own love for the game after begging his older brothers (who also played in the minors) to play and teach him baseball from a young age. As Wander continued to get older, baseball developed into a love for him, and after dropping out of school in sixth grade, it was all he wanted to focus on. He was going to go pro.
Franco was signed by the Tampa Bay Rays back on July 2, 2017. Since, he has navigated through the rookie-level Princeton Rays in 2018 with a solid line and .351 batting average. He then was promoted to class A Bowling Green and quickly impressed earning another promotion to the class A-advanced Charlotte Stone Crabs squad just two months later.
Franco concluded the 2019 season with class A Charlotte and managed to get an invitation to Tampa Bay’s spring training squad. Wander never saw the field in 2020, but he remained on the Rays alternate training site the whole time developing his craft in this weird year with no minor league baseball season.
An MLB Star in the Making?
Throughout his first two seasons in the minors, the 19 year old Franco has hit .336 with 20 homeruns and a surprising 14 triples in only 175 at-bats. If that doesn’t scream exciting I don’t know what does.
Wander Franco not only impresses on paper, but he also passes the eye test with flying colors. Upon watching some of his past at-bats, I can tell that his hand-eye coordination is out of this world. Franco can get the bat on anything with his slap swing mixed with elite bat speed from both sides of the dish. He also hits mistake pitches extremely hard and just doesn’t seem to strikeout.
Offensively, the sweet swinging Franco is flat out special, but I wouldn’t say that he is a finished product. His speed isn’t bad but it is definitely not elite, and his fielding (.954 Fld% in the minors) could continue to use some work. All of these attributes that Franco has will continue to develop and come to fruition in due time, but for now lets’ let the kid continue to develop for another year or two before bringing him up to the big show. We need to remember that Wander Franco is still so young and is at an age that prospects are usually entering the farm system, so there is no rush. He lives and breathes the game of baseball, and I truly believe that Franco has all of the tools and abilities in order to become one of the best players in the game.
