Via MetsBlog.com, Jerry Manuel wants Jeff Francoeur to become a threat to steal, and the Mets are teaching him the mechanics of the stolen base:
“In Atlanta, we obviously weren’t as aggressive on the basepaths. It was more kind of that wait and hit the three-run homer.
“And Jerry and [new third base coach] Chip [Hale] want me to run. They want me to do it.
“So I’m hoping. It’s got to be the right situation, the right count, the right thing. But I’d love to try to run more and do that. Because I know I can. It’s just a matter of getting comfortable and doing it.”
Francoeur, so far in his career, is 15 for 30 stealing, a very poor percentage. I have no problem with the Mets trying to improve this aspect of the outfielder’s game, and they might have more luck with this than trying to get him to be more selective at the plate. The latter would likely pay off more handsomely, however.
Posted by David Pinto at 10:48 am | Base Running, Management, Players | Permalink | 3 Comments
Comments
Leave a Reply
March 19th, 2010 @ 11:18 am
Maybe Manuel and the staff are trying a bit of misdirection. I am in the camp that is fully aware of Jeff’s OBP shortcomings, but is still fascinated by 2006/07. Perhaps the focus on base stealing will translate to Francouer learning that you can’t steal bases if you’re not on base.
March 19th, 2010 @ 2:36 pm
To me, this reeks of “Look at us! Look at what we’re doing to improve our team!” by the Minaya/Manuel duet, despite actually doing very little to improve their team.
March 19th, 2010 @ 5:35 pm
He can lead the league in stealing first perhaps
- Sincerely Dusty Baker