Royals sign Maikel Franco to a one-year contract. Here’s why he could be in KC longer
Royals manager Mike Matheny has his third baseman for the 2020 season.
The Royals on Friday announced the signing of former Philadelphia Phillies third baseman Maikel Franco to a one-year contract. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, but a source confirmed Franco will make $2.95 million and can earn $1.05 million in performance bonuses.
If Franco does well in 2020, the Royals will have the option of offering him arbitration and bringing him back for the 2021 season. Franco won’t reach free agency until 2022.
“Very similar to many of our young players, he’s had his shares of ups and downs,” general manager Dayton Moore said, “but he’s playing next year at 28 years old, really just entering his prime. I think he’s very hungry and motivated and very talented as well, so it’s a good time to be acquiring a player like Maikel.”
Franco, 27, is coming off a tough season in which he batted .234 with a .297 on-base percentage, 17 home runs and 56 RBIs. In August, he was demoted to Triple-A for nearly three weeks.
“I’m not going to say that I’m going to feel happy, but at the end of the day, I understand the situation, I understand what happened,” Franco told the Philadelphia Inquirer after being sent to the minors. “I’m just trying to forget all that stuff, get in here, work hard here, and try to get better every single day and try to do everything I can to be the best.”
Franco’s stats improved slightly when he rejoined the Phillies, as he batted .250 with two homers in 60 plate appearances over 21 games.
The Inquirer story said part of the reason for his demotion was that Philadelphia coaches wanted Franco to hit the ball in the air, but his fly-ball rate only increased slightly.
The demotion was a surprise because Franco at one point was seen as the Phillies’ third baseman of the future. Prior to the 2014 season, he was rated the game’s 17th-best prospect by Baseball America.
Franco hit 25 home runs in 2016 and had 24 the next season, the first time a Phillies third baseman had 20 or more home runs in consecutive years since Scott Rolen (1997-2001). Franco followed that by hitting 22 homers with a .270 average in 2018.
He was the only player in Major League Baseball to hit 20 or more home runs with 62 or fewer strikeouts in 2018.
But after struggling in 2019, Franco was granted free agency on Dec. 2. His signing, which fills out the Royals’ 40-man roster, means Hunter Dozier likely will see time at the corner infield spots and right field.
Franco finished at negative-3 in FanGraphs’ defensive runs saved metric in 2019, while Dozier was negative-14.
“The opportunity exists because of the versatility of Hunter Dozier and our desire to lengthen out our lineup, especially with the way our division is improving,” Moore said. “We certainly don’t want any dead spots in our order.”
This story was originally published December 27, 2019 at 4:36 PM.
