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Rays' Wander Franco turning into a flippin' star
In an 8-1 win over the Pirates on Wednesday night, Tampa Bay SS Wander Franco flashed his talent on offense and defense.
Late in the game, Franco fielded a 103 mph ground ball with ease, tossing it to himself before firing a perfect throw to first to end the inning:
Just a casual five minutes in the life of Wander Franco pic.twitter.com/H6SfEMgdWp
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) May 4, 2023
The play sparked varied reactions good and bad on social media, but there's no denying the ball flip shows off Franco's skills. The 22-year-old remained humble in postgame interviews, though.
"I mess around in practice," Franco told MLB.com through an interpreter. "Through instincts, I think it just happened."
Franco didn't just amaze with the glove -- he also went 2-for-5 with two RBI and a moonshot homer after his marvelous defensive play.
The game served as a reminder of what Franco has done in his breakout season. After two solid-but-injury-riddled seasons in 2020 and 2021, the switch-hitting shortstop looks like a budding superstar.
Through 29 games, Franco has done it all, hitting six homers and putting up a .929 OPS while also swiping seven bags.
At the plate, Franco possesses remarkable power while not chasing many pitches. His 23.5% chase rate on pitches outside the strike zone is in the top quarter of the league, according to Baseball Savant.
Franco makes contact with the ball often, and when he does, it's hit hard. A 90.7 mph average exit velocity puts him comfortably above league average. As Franco has started to lift the ball more, balls have started flying farther. (He has a three-degree increase in average launch angle this season.)
Franco has also flashed the leather at multiple points this season, hanging with some of the best defensive shortstops in MLB. He's tied for fourth among all shortstops in outs above average, a metric used to measure fielder range and capability to make difficult plays.
Two of the players Franco is tied with are the Cubs' Dansby Swanson, the NL Gold Glove winner last season, and the Mets' Francisco Lindor, a two-time Gold Glover. On some instances, Franco hasn't even needed a glove:
You cannot be serious, Wander Franco. pic.twitter.com/CXVUcTFTW1
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) April 25, 2023
Overall, Franco provides value in almost every area, and he is finally looking like the five-tool player that scouts projected him to be.
More must-reads:
- Rays out to hand Pirates fourth straight loss with sweep
- Rays acquire Chase Anderson
- The 'MLB franchise home run leaders' quiz
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Browns HC gives troubling Shedeur Sanders update ahead of Eagles game
On Wednesday, the Cleveland Browns learned that rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders was dealing with an oblique injury that could sideline him for Saturday's game at the Philadelphia Eagles. However, it appears Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski could keep Sanders out of action through Cleveland's preseason finale against the Los Angeles Rams on Aug. 23. "He felt it early, I think, warming up, and then felt it throughout [individual drills] and we took a look at it," Stefanski told reporters on Thursday while speaking about what Sanders experienced on Wednesday, per Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. "If it’s a right guard, you can play through that. When it’s a quarterback, you kind of need that muscle to throw. So unfortunately, we’re going to put him down for a little bit here. We will treat it day to day and see how he responds." Stefanski said the Browns want "to be really careful" with the Sanders injury because quarterbacks "torque and twist their body" on pass plays. Despite performing well in his preseason debut last Friday, Sanders, the 2025 fifth-round draft pick, remained fourth on Cleveland's unofficial depth chart before his setback. Kenny Pickett is still attempting to recover from the hamstring injury that kept him out of the Browns' preseason opener against the Carolina Panthers on Aug. 8, so veteran Joe Flacco is on track to start Cleveland's Week 1 matchup versus the Cincinnati Bengals on Sept. 7. Meanwhile, 2025 third-round draft pick Dillon Gabriel will start against the Eagles this Saturday if it's determined his hamstring is healthy. Like Pickett, Gabriel spent the Carolina game as a spectator. "Injuries stink for all these guys," Stefanski added. "They don’t want to miss a rep for any reason. But, there’s a way to continue to prepare, continue to get better, even when you’re not getting those reps up because of injuries." Sanders seemed to have a shot at earning the QB2 gig after he completed 14-of-23 passes for 138 yards and two touchdowns in Cleveland's 30-10 victory over Carolina. He could now enter September as Cleveland's QB4 if Browns general manager Andrew Berry is serious about carrying four quarterbacks on the active roster for the Cincinnati game.
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Oregon suspends former five-star WR recruit indefinitely
Oregon wide receiver Jurrion Dickey has struggled to live up to expectations in his first two seasons with the Ducks, and he is now in a terrible position heading into 2025 as well. Dickey has been suspended indefinitely by Oregon, head coach Dan Lanning announced on Tuesday. Lanning also suggested that Dickey may not play for the Ducks again. "We have two team rules; that’s respectful, be on time,” Lanning said, via James Crepea of The Oregonian. “There’s some pieces of that where I felt like he needed a break from us and we needed a break from that so we could focus on what’s in front of us right now. "Wishing him nothing but the best, as far as success and want to see him get back to where he can be a contributor somewhere; that might be here that might be somewhere else.” Dickey was a five-star recruit and rated as one of the top wide receivers in the country when he came out of Menlo-Atherton High School in Atherton, California, in 2023. He suffered an injury in his senior year in high school and redshirted as a freshman at Oregon. Dickey has two catches for 14 years during his time with the Ducks. Oregon went 13-1 in Lanning's third season with the program last season. The Ducks lost to eventual national champion Ohio State in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals.
'I Hope He Doesn’t Become Ben Simmons': Julian Edelman Alerts Rob Gronkowski About JJ McCarthy
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