Jeff Francis Bio's:
Jeff Francis
Full Name: Jeffrey William Francis
Born: January 8,1981
Place: Vancouver, British Columbia
Position: P
Height: 6-5 Weight: 200
Bats: L Throws: L
High School: - College: University of British Columbia
Drafted: Selected by the Colorado Rockies in the 1st round (9th overall) of the 2002 amateur entry draft. (June-Reg phase)
Born: January 8,1981
Place: Vancouver, British Columbia
Position: P
Height: 6-5 Weight: 200
Bats: L Throws: L
High School: - College: University of British Columbia
Drafted: Selected by the Colorado Rockies in the 1st round (9th overall) of the 2002 amateur entry draft. (June-Reg phase)
Jeff Francis just keeps getting better. He didn't win as many games in 2006 as he did the previous season but he improved in just about every other category. The best stat was his hits to innings pitched which was fantastic at .94. He also threw 20 quality starts which shows that he should have won a few more than 13 games.
A part of the core big three, Jeff still has the tendency to let games get away from him in the middle innings but was much better at hanging in there this year than in the past. As Francis' body continues to fill out, he'll only get better and better. There's always talk of trading him from different sources but that would be just about the dumbest thing ever. He is the type of starter that one tries to acquire not send away.
YEAR W L ERA G GS CG SHO QS SV IP H R ER HR HBP BB SO
2004 3 2 5.15 7 7 0 0 0 36.2 42 22 21 8 1 13 32
2005 14 12 5.68 33 33 0 0 15 0 183.2 228 119 116 26 8 70 128
2006 13 11 4.16 32 32 1 1 20 0 199.0 187 101 92 18 13 69 117
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Career 30 25 4.91 72 72 1 1 0 419.1 457 242 229 52 22 152 277
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2006
Jeff Francis is the kind of pitcher all teams need in their rotation if they want to be competitive. He is left handed, with no past arm problems and will become a 200 inning work horse as his body matures.
As with most crafty lefties who don't have 95 mhp heaters, Francis needs his teammates in order to be successful. His pitches tend to be the same whether he is at altitude or not which also makes him a good fit for this franchise. However, he cannot win a game all by himself like a Randy Johnson or even a Tom Glavine but he can compete for 6, 7 or 8 innings. He does need to develop more consistency if he wants to move forward with his career though because he had 33 starts this year, of which only 15 qualified as quality. That won't be good enough to win constantly in the big leagues.
One drawback for Francis 2006 will be the loss of Bob McClure, who was the best pitching coach the Rockies had in the system and is now working for the Royals. It remains to be seen if Bob Apodaca can help Francis when he goes into those in-season funks that all pitchers go through.
A part of the core big three, Jeff still has the tendency to let games get away from him in the middle innings but was much better at hanging in there this year than in the past. As Francis' body continues to fill out, he'll only get better and better. There's always talk of trading him from different sources but that would be just about the dumbest thing ever. He is the type of starter that one tries to acquire not send away.
YEAR W L ERA G GS CG SHO QS SV IP H R ER HR HBP BB SO
2004 3 2 5.15 7 7 0 0 0 36.2 42 22 21 8 1 13 32
2005 14 12 5.68 33 33 0 0 15 0 183.2 228 119 116 26 8 70 128
2006 13 11 4.16 32 32 1 1 20 0 199.0 187 101 92 18 13 69 117
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Career 30 25 4.91 72 72 1 1 0 419.1 457 242 229 52 22 152 277
-----------
2006
Jeff Francis is the kind of pitcher all teams need in their rotation if they want to be competitive. He is left handed, with no past arm problems and will become a 200 inning work horse as his body matures.
As with most crafty lefties who don't have 95 mhp heaters, Francis needs his teammates in order to be successful. His pitches tend to be the same whether he is at altitude or not which also makes him a good fit for this franchise. However, he cannot win a game all by himself like a Randy Johnson or even a Tom Glavine but he can compete for 6, 7 or 8 innings. He does need to develop more consistency if he wants to move forward with his career though because he had 33 starts this year, of which only 15 qualified as quality. That won't be good enough to win constantly in the big leagues.
One drawback for Francis 2006 will be the loss of Bob McClure, who was the best pitching coach the Rockies had in the system and is now working for the Royals. It remains to be seen if Bob Apodaca can help Francis when he goes into those in-season funks that all pitchers go through.
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In the News
11/21/06.. addition.. Rocky
Signed up
• Left-hander Jeff Francis agreed to a four-year contract that carries an option for a fifth season. The deal:
Signing bonus: $500,000
2007: $500,000
2008: $2.75 million
2009: $3.75 million
2010: $5.75 million
2011: option, $7 million-$8 million
2/23/06... addition.. MLB.com
Spring is as good a time as any for Francis to test a two-seam, sinking fastball that he developed over the winter and a variation of his regular four-seam fastball that he began using last September.
The four-seam variation grew out of a problem last season. Francis wanted to get his fastball inside against right-handed batters, but sometimes it would drift back over the plate. Toward the end of the season, Francis' two Minor League pitching coaches, Bob McClure, now with the Kansas City Royals, and Bo McLaughlin joined Apodaca with the big club. The result was a suggestion that resulted with a straighter pitch that eliminated the drift into the hitter's zone.
The two-seamer could help get ground balls and quicker innings. Both fastballs were fine on Thursday, according to catcher Danny Ardoin, who batted against Francis.
Signed up
• Left-hander Jeff Francis agreed to a four-year contract that carries an option for a fifth season. The deal:
Signing bonus: $500,000
2007: $500,000
2008: $2.75 million
2009: $3.75 million
2010: $5.75 million
2011: option, $7 million-$8 million
2/23/06... addition.. MLB.com
Spring is as good a time as any for Francis to test a two-seam, sinking fastball that he developed over the winter and a variation of his regular four-seam fastball that he began using last September.
The four-seam variation grew out of a problem last season. Francis wanted to get his fastball inside against right-handed batters, but sometimes it would drift back over the plate. Toward the end of the season, Francis' two Minor League pitching coaches, Bob McClure, now with the Kansas City Royals, and Bo McLaughlin joined Apodaca with the big club. The result was a suggestion that resulted with a straighter pitch that eliminated the drift into the hitter's zone.
The two-seamer could help get ground balls and quicker innings. Both fastballs were fine on Thursday, according to catcher Danny Ardoin, who batted against Francis.