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Former Phillie Maikel Franco signs deal with Japanese team

Maikel Franco is headed to Japan.(Kyle Ross/Icon Sportswire)

Former Philadelphia Phillies third baseman Maikel Franco has signed a deal with Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, according to The Japan Times.

The Golden Eagles play in Nippon Professional Baseball, which is viewed by most as the second best league in the world. Franco joins a team that features former New York Yankees’ ace Masahiro Tanaka, and went 69-71 in 2022, good for a fourth place finish in Japan’s Pacific Division.

Franco, of course, spent the first six years of his career with the Phillies. But while he hit 102 home runs in red pinstripes and at times looked like he could be a cornerstone piece for the next great Phillies team, things fizzled out and he was non-tendered by the organization following the 2019 season.

Since his Phillies tenure ended, Franco has had stints with the Kansas City Royals, Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals. Over that three-season stretch, Franco has slashed just .233/.270/.374 with an underwhelming .644 OPS.

After being released by the Nationals in late August, Franco would have been looking at signing a minor-league deal with an invite to Major League Spring Training had he stayed stateside. Given his limited positional flexibility and disappointing offensive performance in recent years, it’s more likely that Franco would have opened the 2023 season at Triple-A than with an MLB team.

And so, Franco, now 30, will continue his baseball journey in Japan. Perhaps he’ll end up as a mainstay in Japan, or rebound to the point that a big league opportunity opens up for him 2024.