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Phillies prospect Franco tries to focus on improving, rather than stats

LAKEWOOD, N.J. - Maikel Franco sat in a rectangular office with two coaches on the other side of a desk.

"I have to work on a lot of things," Lakewood BlueClaw Maikel Franco said. (Ron Cortes/Staff Photographer)
"I have to work on a lot of things," Lakewood BlueClaw Maikel Franco said. (Ron Cortes/Staff Photographer)Read more

LAKEWOOD, N.J. - Maikel Franco sat in a rectangular office with two coaches on the other side of a desk.

He looked at Lakewood BlueClaws manager Mickey Morandini and hitting coach Greg Legg already knowing what they were going to say.

"You're not a .200 hitter," they said to him. "You're better than that."

Franco, philly.com's No. 10 Phillies prospect, knows he's better than the .207 batting average he brought into this week.

But down here in low single A, Franco's job isn't to put up a .300 line. Sure, it wouldn't hurt to put up eye-popping numbers, but the 19-year-old third baseman understands that his primary job is to develop into a better player every day, every week. Down here, he has the ability to take a live at-bat and focus on driving the ball the other way, no matter the outcome. Down here, numbers don't mean what they do in the bigs.

So Franco has been taking more swings in the cages with coaches and spending less time, almost no time, looking at his numbers.

"I have to work on a lot of things," said Franco, who speaks imperfect but improving English. "I need to make sure my wrists and hands are better, I need to get stronger, I need a better eye, I need to work on putting the ball in right field and not pulling it so much."

Franco admits that when you're going through rough stretches like the one he's gone through the early part of this season, it's tough not to at least take a peek at the numbers.

Lanky outfielder Aaron Altherr, 21, Philly.com's No. 13 prospect, understands the temptation. Altherr was hitting just .231 on June 21 before four straight multihit games boosted his average to .251.

"I've got to try to be a little more consistent at the plate," Altherr said. "You've got to take it day by day, week by week. You can't get too worried when things aren't going your way. You've got to be patient in this game. One week your numbers are down, the next they're up."

All baseball players go through slumps and stretches. More so for young players. Even more so for young players working on different aspects of hitting, such as going to the opposite field.

"The coaches here stay patient with us," Altherr said. "We're all still learning and we have a long way to go."

En route to a 6-4 win Monday night, Franco crushed a sixth-inning fastball down the left-field line, bringing home two runners, including Altherr from first. His competitive drive was pleased with the result - a two-run double - but another part of Franco wished he took the previous outside pitch the other direction for the same result.

In a game of imperfection, on a team of inexperienced players, the result doesn't matter as much as the development. The two-RBI double doesn't matter as much as the line drive in the other direction.

That's why Franco doesn't pay too much attention to the numbers. Even if they say he's a .200 hitter who strikes out too much, he knows better.