Baseball Prospectus | | Eyewitness Scouting Report


	Maikel Franco Born: 08/26/1992 (Age: 20)
	Bats: Right	Throws: Right
	Height: 6' 1"	Weight: 225
	Primary Position: 3B

High maintenance body; athletic but doughy; no chance he is 180 lbs; upper body is muscular but not chiseled; big butt; lower half could see more expansion before he reaches maturity.

Evaluator	Jason Parks
Report Date	07/02/2013
Dates Seen	06/27/13 - 06/30/13
Affiliate	Reading Fightin Phils (AA, Phillies)

MLB ETA	Risk Factor	OFP	Video
2014	Moderate	50	No

Tool	Future Grade	Report
Hit	50	Crushing in Double-A and in game action, but I question the tool projection; swing is long; hand load is aggressive and deep, with an upward trajectory at its deepest point before coming back down and into the hitting zone; hand-eye is near elite and allows bat to find ball despite poor guesses or long stroke; high front leg lift and explosive hip rotation limits bat control and balance when forced to slow down process; it works at present buts it noisy and very fastball friendly; don’t see a lot of swing-and-miss, but hard contact could turn soft against better pitching; will expand his zone; will struggle with velocity on the inner-third and above the hands; will need adjustment period at highest level; don’t see a high average hitter; .250-plus is possible but aggressive approach could limit tool utility.
Power	60	Legit plus raw power; generates excellent bat speed from hand speed and torque (hips); bat plane allows for lift; drives the ball with authority; impressive batting practice displays; punishes fringe fastballs; takes advantage of mistakes; has 25-plus home run potential at highest level.
Baserunning/Speed	20	Awkward runner; lower half is big cargo to haul; mostly 4.7-plus times home-to-first; second gear is a little better, but still a well below average tool.
Glove	45	Hard to evaluate; shows good hands on one play and stiff hands on the next; could be focus issues in the field; lacks big range but can show some lateral quickness; doesn’t bend well at the waist; coordinated with extreme hand/eye but not a smooth fielder; glove-to-hand transfer is fine; could improve with repetition if he wants to improve.
Arm	55	Plus [raw] arm strength delivered from the hip; slinger; accuracy effected by casual mechanics; quick release and zip, but rushed setup and slot limit full utility.

I want to see Franco against better competition, but he seems to struggle picking up secondary stuff; perhaps its because his mechanical approach is all one speed and aggressive; perhaps its not obvious yet because he knows how to time to fringe velocity without losing the ability to recover to bad guesses. But something seemed off; need more looks.

Franco really draws back the bow in his swing, and I question his ability to make consistent hard contact at the highest level; the timing kick is aggressive and getting the front foot down against premium velocity could be an issue. The hand/eye Is so good that he might be one of those players that just makes it work despite the obvious swing length and aggressiveness; the power is good enough to play despite a hit tool that could play down; defensive profile at third Is below average at present; unlikely to reach average utility; well below average run; body could be issue down the line; not a star player; hit tool could spoil the major league party.