Categories: News

Maikel Franco is hitting .300 in the Dominican Republic

Good morning!

Not much going on, but let’s shoehorn some news on the site anyway!

SICK BURN: Yesterday 97.5 The Fanatic raised an odd poll question on Twitter: “Are you sick of the Phillie Phanatic?”

The Phillies, showing some real growth on Twitter, fired back.

This writer thinks The Fanatic employee knew exactly what it was doing when tweeting that ridiculous question.

MAIK IN THE CARIBBEAN: Maikel Franco is playing baseball right now. The Phils’ starting third baseman has been playing for the Gigantes in the Dominican Winter League (in the playoffs) since January, joining prospect Cam Perkins as the meat of the Gigantes order.

You may think it’s weird that Franco, an established major leaguer, is playing winter ball, but he’s actually hitting behind veteran Nelson Cruz of Seattle. Of course, Cruz is likely just keeping himself limber for the upcoming World Baseball Classic (Cruz is Team Dominican Republic). As for Franco, he had a rough year in 2016. Time to rebound.

Franco is 9-for-30 (.300) thus far in Winter League action.

Tim Malcolm

Tim first found the Phillies as a little infant at Veteran’s Stadium, cheering on a Juan Samuel game-winning home run in his very first game. With the pinstripes in his blood, he witnessed Terry Mulholland’s 1990 no-hitter, “Steve Carlton Night” at the Vet, game three of the 1993 World Series, countless games during the charmed 2008 championship season and various road excursions. Since November 2007 Tim’s been writing about them daily at Phillies Nation, becoming one of the world’s most popular Phillies scribes. You can catch him on Twitter and Facebook, as well. When he’s not talking about the Phils he’s relaxing with a St. Bernardus ABT 12 or one of his many favored brews.