Phillies Notebook: Phillies great Mike Schmidt high on Maikel Franco

MIKE SCHMIDT does not like Maikel Franco's game. He loves it.

"We've got the start of something really exciting with this kid,'' Schmidt said.

Everybody sees Franco's early hitting. Schmidt also sees a Gold Glove in his future. He likes Franco's approach to the game, calling it "cockiness in a good way . . . the way he carries himself like he knows he's good.''

The Phillies' Hall of Fame third baseman, a television analyst for the team's Saturday and Sunday home games, was speaking in the Citizens Bank Park press box before yesterday's doubleheader with the Nationals. Offering his thoughts on the game generally and Franco's game specifically, Schmidt was his typical cerebral, insightful self.

"He has a presence in the batter's box which we generally don't see a lot of from players coming up from the minor leagues,'' Schmidt said. "He's tough in the batter's box. Last couple of days, he's struggling a little bit after the big series in New York . . . He can feel that he's jumping out at the ball a little bit. I know all about that, did it my whole career.

"You saw how wide his stance was [Saturday]. That's a great thing to see that a kid can feel things, he can sense when he's a little out of whack. Other than him, I don't see a lot of our young hitters visibly making changes on the fly in the batter's box.''

You have to go back to Dick Allen in 1964 to see a Phils rookie with similar numbers in his first 150 at-bats.

Allen's slash line then: .300/.348/.580. Franco's line: .303/.350/570.

"He takes big, hard swings,'' Schmidt said. "When he needs to make contact, he makes contact.''

Who hits for average and power anymore? Franco's 10 home runs and early batting average suggests he might be the exception.

"One really impressive thing about him is his athleticism defensively,'' Schmidt said. "He looks like he can play anywhere. He even looks like he could play short in a pinch if he had to. Goes over to first and he's a really good first baseman. He's a really good third baseman. Got a little bit of an unorthodox arm, doesn't throw the ball over the top, ball's got a lot of carry . . . Makes the charge play, makes the barehanded play.''

Schmidt really likes Franco's hands.

"You can always tell good hands when guys can get that in-between hop and it doesn't freak them out or anything,'' Schmidt said. "Good backhander, good tagger. He looks like a natural.''

Even before he saw him up close at spring training this year, Schmidt had seen Franco on TV and watched some of his minor league at-bats.

"I saw that sense for the game that he could poke a ball to rightfield, yet at the same time, he could hit the ball a long way,'' Schmidt said. "He's pretty much got it covered across the board. For him now, it's just a matter of feeling like he belongs and I'm sure he does now. He's going to feel like he doesn't have to prove anything.

"The biggest test you have to get through is the longevity test, consistency over a full year, the ups and downs of going through what he's going through right now, having a real big series in New York . . . knowing it's just not going to continue to be like it was in those two games in New York, how do I shorten slumps? The tough thing is playing on a losing team.''

Schmidt said he hopes Franco has a mentor to get him through the 0-for-15s and the losing that is not likely to end soon with this team.

"Back in the old days, for me, when I was that age, we had Dick Allen on the team, we had Dave Cash on the team, older guys that I had watched on TV previously as a kid,'' Schmidt said. "Now, all of a sudden now I'm on the same team with them and they're talking to me about the game and we go out to dinner afterwards and rehash what happened, talk about other players, game situations. I don't know that he has that . . . It would be nice if he didn't have to go it alone, if he had somebody to lean on and there might be a Latin coach in his future that can do that for him. That's a big part of it. When he gets down, [he needs] somebody to say the right thing at the right time.''

So far, Franco is doing all the right things. He is must-see. When he comes up to bat, everybody watches, regardless of the score or the standings.

"We've got something special here in a really tough year,'' Schmidt said. "We've got a bright spot, for sure.''