Maikel

Franco

Franco will attempt to revive his career overseas in Japan next season following a pair of dismal offensive campaigns with the Orioles and Nationals. The 30-year-old former top prospect never quite put it together consistently at the highest level and departs with a pedestrian .244/.293/.414 triple-slash line with 130 homers in 3,573 plate appearances (923 games) in the majors since 2014.

With Luis García returning from the injured list on Friday, the Nationals needed to free up a roster spot and it was the 29-year-old third baseman who wound up getting the boot. Franco hit just .229/.255/.342 with nine homers and 39 RBI in 371 plate appearances with the Nationals this season. He’s now free to latch on wherever he would like.

Franco smacked his 386-foot solo shot off of Tayler Scott leading off the ninth inning, pulling the Nats to within seven runs at 10-3. That’s one way to make the most of your lone at-bat in the contest. The 29-year-old it hitting just .231/.258/.347 with the aforementioned nine long balls and 39 RBI in 380 plate appearances on the season.

Franco certainly hasn’t been very good overall, but he has come up with some of the Nationals’ biggest hits this season. He’s batting .190 in 142 at-bats with the bases empty and .316 in 136 at-bats with runners on, which helps explain why has more RBI than Juan Soto (34 to 31).

Franco got the scoring started in this one with an RBI-single in the second inning that scored Luis Garcia from second base. With a runner on in the fifth, he took Corey Knebel deep for a booming two-run shot. The 29-year-old third baseman is hitting .259/.280/.384 with six homers across 275 plate appearances.

Franco clubbed a two-run blast off of Phil Maton in the fifth inning that extended the Nationals lead to 9-3. He then tacked on an RBI double in the sixth inning and eventually scored on an RBI single off the bat of Victor Robles. He finished the night 2-for-5 and is now hitting a healthy .273/.300/.417 with three homers and 21 RBI on the season.

Nationals manager Dave Martinez told reporters Wednesday that Kieboom was not throwing yet, but the skipper apparently had incorrect information. Whatever the case, the 24-year-old infielder still has a long way to go in his recovery from a flexor mass strain in his right forearm. He likely won’t be an option for Washington before mid-June. Maikel Franco has been holding down third base duties for the Nats.

Franco contributed three hits in the Nationals’ offensive explosion on Friday against the Giants. He doubled to lead off the second inning off Alex Wood and scored on a base hit by Victor Robles. Franco later drove in a run himself with an RBI double in the third. A single in the eighth would drive in one more run for the Nationals. The 29-year-old third baseman is off to an excellent start, hitting .293/.322/.427 with two homers.

Franco, 29, drove in his first two runs as a member of the Nationals when he socked a homer off Huascar Ynoa with a runner on in the third inning. He cemented the blowout with a bases-clearing double with the bases loaded in in the seventh to make it 11-1. Franco has shown spurts of offensive ability in his time in the majors, only to leave fantasy managers disappointed not long after. You can do better in the overwhelming majority of formats, but a very nice day for Franco, indeed.

Franco has officially made the Nationals’ Opening Day roster after signing a minor league contract back in December. He doesn’t offer much appeal, if any, for fantasy managers outside of NL-only formats.