WANDER FRANCO

Wander Franco is a twenty-year-old.

I have suits older than that.

Shoes too.

Good ones — in each case.

High quality.

Well-made.

Expensive.

Wander Franco is better than all that, at what he does.

Way better.

Franco is a switch-hitting rookie shortstop for the AL East-leading Tampa Bay Rays (86–51), who flashes leather in the field and has reached base in 33 consecutive games at this writing.

Among players under 21, Franco’s 33-game streak is now tied for the third-longest in major league baseball history, with the Pirates’ Arky Vaughan (July 12-August 10, 1932) and the New York Giants’ Mel Ott (August 24-October 6, 1929), both Hall-of-Famers.

He trails only another pair of Hall of Famers in this department: Mickey Mantle (36 games in 1951-’52); and Frank Robinson (43 in 1956).

Age aside, Franco’s streak is the longest by a rookie shortstop since Hanley Ramirez reached base in 36 straight games for the 2006 Marlins.

It is also the longest active on-base streak in big league baseball today; the longest by a rookie in Rays’ history; and and the third-longest single-streak overall by a Rays player (behind Johnny Damon, who reached base in 39 consecutive games from May 3-June 14, 2011, and Ben Grieve who reached base in 37 straight contests from April 18-May 30, 2001).

[***Wander Watch: 36 consecutive games through Monday 09/06…]

Franco has not struck out in his last 41 plate appearances, and has struck out only three times in his last 85 trips to the dish.

[Sidebar: Franco went down swinging against Twins starter Griffin Jax in the fifth inning of a 6–5 loss to Minnesota on 09/05; he immediately bounced back with a double his next plate appearance and an infield single in the ninth.]

He is 20.

No less an authority than world-class ESPN baseball columnist and New York Times best-selling author Jeff Passan, had Wander Franco pegged a couple of years ago.

Franco grew up in the Dominican Republic and dropped out of school after sixth grade so he could train to become a professional baseball player.

Four years later, at 16, he signed with the Rays for $3.825 million, considered a bargain today.

At 18, Passan noted that, clearly, he was the best prospect in all of baseball.

Three years younger than his friends, roommates and teammates playing for Tampa Bay’s Class High-A affiliate, the Bowling Green Hot Rods, he is referred to as “El Patron” — The Boss.

Following him closely, Passan recalled a nine-game stretch back then, when Franco saw 105 pitches and didn’t swing and miss once.

In a league in which the average age is over 21, a teenager is without doubt, the alpha — like Zion Williamson with a bat and glove would have been.

Franco’s play drives grown men to hyperbole.

Marvels Mitch Lukevics, the Rays’ farm director who has 45 years of experience combing the minor leagues cultivating talent, “He’s human, but sometimes it’s tough to tell.”

Passan cites the obvious in explaining the wonder of Wander.

There is the inborn: the hand-eye coordination; the adolescent body which developed into a muscled 5’10” 190 lb. power pack; and the genes: a jackpot with a father, also named Wander, who was a pretty decent ballplayer; and a mother Nancy, whose brothers — Erick and Willy Aybar — played a combined 17 big league seasons.

There is an uncommon maturity for one so young.

Patience.

Discipline.

Understanding.

A unique talent, discernible to many, by the time he was 10.

10.

Rudy Santin, who had spent more than 25 years as a scout in Latin America for the Yankees, Giants and Rays, and who opened the MVP Santin Baseball Academy in Santo Domingo, could scarcely believe his eyes as he watched the ten-year-old Franco.

“He wasn’t afraid of anything. You could just tell with his presence and body language.

He had that ‘it’ factor.”

When the kid took some ground balls, Santin’s jaw hit the floor.

He’s 10?

Yes.

What’s his name?

Wander Samuel Franco.

“It was like watching a miniature big leaguer,” Santin recalled in awe.

Back then, the youngest players at his academy were 12 or 13.

Santin wanted him at 10.

He got him at 12.

And really, the rest is history.

Wander Franco is making it right before our very eyes.

Stay tuned.

[Editor’s Note: This piece was written by Mr. Kaplan in September 2021.]