Juan Francisco

Francisco finally got a real chance to put his prodigious power on display in 2013, serving as the primary first baseman for the Brewers after being acquired by the club in June. While he hit 13 home runs in 89 games with the team, he also hit just .221 and struck out 95 times in 240 at-bats, making it clear that he is best suited for a part-time or reserve role.

After being traded by the Reds to the Braves in April, Francisco saw his playing time double in Atlanta. The Braves used him as third-base insurance behind Chipper Jones in 2012 and Francisco rewarded them with good defense and his best power season as he hit nine home runs in just 205 at-bats. Unfortunately, outside of power he suffered through his worst year at the plate yet as he hit just .234 with a .278 OBP. He also struck out in over a third of his plate appearances. Francisco was a big power and poor OBP player in the minors as well, so this is not a recent development. He'll see playing time in 2013 as the Braves can use his power off the bench, but it looks like Martin Prado will take over at third base following Jones' retirement.

2011 was a costly season for Francisco, in terms of missed opportunities. He suffered a calf injury in April after making the Opening Day roster, and a later knee injury sidelined him for a significant period of time. Both of Francisco's injuries dovetailed with injuries to incumbent third baseman Scott Rolen. So instead of him getting valuable major league plate appearances, those chances fell to the likes of Miguel Cairo and Todd Frazier. Now Francisco is out of options, so the team has to keep him on the major league roster, but they still don't know if he's capable of handling an everyday job at the major league level. His plate discipline is still a mess - he had a combined 14 walks in over 400 plate appearances between Triple-A and the majors. When he does make contact, the results are nice, but it's an open question whether he'll make enough contact on a regular basis when Rolen's reign as the starter is over.

Francisco did more of the same for Triple-A Louisville last year as he did throughout his minor league career - hit for power, hit for decent average and strike out a ton. The contact rate problem, accompanied by a lack of walks, is what's going to limit his future ceiling. He also isn't the most adept third baseman defensively, which makes it hard to anoint him as the Reds' future option at the hot corner. Look for him to play a little bit more in 2011 than in 2010, when he was essentially limited to pinch-hitting duty with the Reds.

Now that Edwin Encarnacion is in Toronto, Francisco is the heir apparent at third base. He's hit for power at every minor league level, but his utter lack of plate discipline (his 26 walks at three levels in 2009 represented a career high) puts his ability to hit for average into question. Defense is also a bit of an issue - that the Reds were considering putting him in their left-field jumble over the offseason is worrisome. With Scott Rolen on board for at least 2010, Francisco probably will start off at Triple-A Louisville.

Francisco's power is intriguing, but his lack of plate discipline is disturbing. For the second year in a row, he had more homers (23) than walks (19), though he did at least cut down on his strikeouts by a significant margin. He'll hit the Double-A wall in 2009, and he might find that level considerably more difficult.

Francisco led the Low-A Midwest League with 25 homers, which turned out to be more often than he walked (23), striking out 161 times along the way (also leading the league). Until he gets better command of the strike zone, he's a flawed prospect.