The Hit King

[jaa36]

For this dynasty, I'm going to take the top prospect in baseball and have him break the all-time career hit record.

Wander Franco is the consensus #1 prospect in baseball, with 80 contact potential. I'm going to take over the Rays, call up Franco for (non-coronavirus) opening day 2020, and have him lead off for as long as it takes to break the record.

Hopefully he'll develop OK. If he retires, I'll un-retire him. And I'll basically give him whatever contract he wants to keep him with the Rays forever. I won't pay much attention to the other stuff but will report on how the team does every season.

[jaa36]

Well, this couldn't have started much better.

After getting off to a bit of a slow start in March and April, hitting .238, young Wander turned things on, hitting over .300 every month the rest of the way. In July, he hit .464 and put together a 28-game hitting streak, the best in baseball this season, to win the Rookie of the Month award. He finished his rookie season with an incredible .329 average and 220 hits, which led the league. He kept up the hot hitting all the way through the postseason, and won the World Series MVP with eight hits against the Cubs, including a back-breaking three-run homer in Game Two. He also took home the AL Rookie of the Year with a 5.4-WAR season.

I won the Manager of the Year Award for basically doing nothing except promoting Franco and playing him every day. Which, I guess I deserved some credit for.

Amusingly, I tried to delegate some tasks to the assistant GM at the All-Star break to speed things along. The first day, Franco was demoted to AA, despite hitting .299 at the time. I reversed that, and the next day, the Rays traded him to the Rangers for Lance Lynn! Reversed that one too. Stop messing with me, Erik Neander.

[jaa36]

Franco didn't suffer from a sophomore jinx, hitting .305 and collecting 197 hits. His improving batting eye held him back from breaking the 200 mark this season, as he walked 101 times. His WAR improved to 6.5.

The Rays won 93 games but lost the one-game playoff to Oakland. The Yankees won the World Series.

[jaa36]

Franco reached new heights in 2022, hitting .362 (just barely missing out on the batting title), and leading the league with 230 hits, 153 runs scored, a .446 on-base percentage, and 11.5 WAR. He won the AL MVP Award and the Silver Slugger at shortstop. The Rays won 105 games but were bounced in the ALCS.

[jaa36]

Franco slumped to a .273 average and just 175 hits in 2023. This was still good for 6.3 WAR and a Silver Slugger. He won the ALCS MVP, but the Rays lost the World Series to the Dodgers in five games.

[eck.nicholas]

You planning on giving career stats every five years? Interested to see where he ranks all time in his after each five year stretch.

[jaa36]

Franco got back on track in 2024, hitting .332 (second in the league) with 211 hits. His 8.8 WAR was third in the league and he won the Silver Slugger again at shortstop. The Rays finished 81-81, last in the AL East.

At age 23, Franco has 1033 hits and 37.7 WAR. By contrast:
-Pete Rose had 309 hits by this age
-Ty Cobb had 959
-Ichiro had 803 (Japanese league)

So off to a good start...

[jaa36]

Another banner year for Wander Franco, who hit .325 with 212 hits. He hit a career-high 39 home runs and had 9.2 WAR, the second-best mark of his career. He was the top vote-getter for the All-Star Game and won the Silver Slugger once again.

Franco played for $21 million this season, and signed an extension worth $417 million over ten years, with an opt-out after year seven.

The Rays did not fare so well, going just 70-92 and running out a starting lineup that was one-third Lowes (Nate, Brandon, Josh). In happier news, Mike Trout won his second consecutive World Series with the Angels.

[eck.nicholas]

Originally Posted by jaa36

At age 23, Franco has 1033 hits and 37.7 WAR. By contrast:
-Pete Rose had 309 hits by this age
-Ty Cobb had 959
-Ichiro had 803 (Japanese league)

So off to a good start...

Whoa. What a start for Franco.

[jaa36]

Franco suffered his first significant injury in 2026, a strained oblique that kept him out for almost two months in May and June. He hit .311 but could only collect 156 hits.

The Rays went 87-75, which tied with the Yankees and Red Sox for best in the division and led to a complicated tiebreaker scenario in which the Rays ended up losing in the play-in game. The Yankees went on to win the World Series. In typical Yankee b&*%&% fashion, the league MVP was a second baseman who came out of nowhere to hit 60 home runs after hitting .218 the year before.

[jaa36]

Elbow and back injuries took Franco out for a month again in 2027, but he hit .356 with 174 hits, 36 home runs, and 8.5 WAR. Amazingly, Franco has yet to winning a batting title, despite hitting .356 and .362 in separate seasons.

The Rays went just 65-97 in 2027. The Cheatin' Astros won the World Series.

[jaa36]

Franco made it through the season without injury. He started slow but had a good season overall, hitting .308 with 192 hits. He led the league in WAR with 8.7 but didn't gather much MVP support as the Rays finished 78-84.

The Nationals won the World Series over the Blue Jays.

[CBLCardinals]

Wow as a small market team, how much of the Rays budget does Franco occupy? $40m!

[jaa36]

Franco hit .318 in 2029, narrowly missing out on a batting title yet again, and falling short of 200 hits by just one. He again led the league in WAR with 7.2. The woebegone Rays finished 55-107, so once again he received little MVP consideration.

Ten seasons in and at age 28, Franco has 1966 career hits. Through this age:
-Pete Rose had 1327 hits
-Ty Cobb had 1935
-Ichiro (including Japanese league) had 1728.

We're halfway there! Franco still has 80-grade contact skills so let's hope the downside of his career goes as well as his peak.

[jaa36]

Originally Posted by CBLCardinals

Wow as a small market team, how much of the Rays budget does Franco occupy? $40m!

At this point, he's $45 million, and the team's payroll is $72 million! That's probably not great.

[jaa36]

Franco lost a few weeks to elbow tendinitis, and his year ended in late September when he broke his hand. But overall, a solid year, as he hit .323 with 175 hits. The Rays finished 63-99. Franco was an All-Star for the tenth time in his career.

[jaa36]

It was a lost season for Franco, who missed the first two months of the year with a broken fibula and the last two months with a sprained elbow, and squandered the rest of the year with the worst play of his career. He got only 50 hits as the Rays finished 61-101.

[eck.nicholas]

Originally Posted by jaa36

It was a lost season for Franco, who missed the first two months of the year with a broken fibula and the last two months with a sprained elbow, and squandered the rest of the year with the worst play of his career. He got only 50 hits as the Rays finished 61-101.

Man he's getting banged up a lot lately. He still normal in injury proneness?

[jaa36]

2032 saw Wander Franco return to form, hitting .316 and making it through the season without injury. He had 193 hits and 5.3 WAR, and he led the league in walks and on-base percentage. Franco won his seventh Silver Slugger. His defense won't play at shortstop anymore (-17.6 UZR) so I'll shift him to third base next year.

Franco decided not to opt out of his contract and will stay with the Rays for $45 million a year for the next three seasons.

The league decided to expand, with the Memphis Champions joining the AL Central, and the Indianapolis Tarpons joining the NL Central.

[jaa36]

Franco put together his best season in five years, hitting .339 with 184 hits. He took very well to third base, posting an above-average UZR, and he led the league in on-base percentage for the second straight season. A batting title somehow continued to elude him.

The Rays went from worst to first, making the postseason for the first time in seven years, but lost to the Tigers in the first round of the playoffs.