Chart Party: My favorite worst baseball player

Jeff Francoeur's start was historically great, and the rest of his career has been historically not. but through it all, he remains. he is my favorite baseball player.

thanks as usual to Baseball-Reference and their Play Index. heat map data was found on FanGraphs.

[thomashendricks]

I was at a Mets game when he was playing outfield. He talked with almost the entire right field fans. He was so engaging, I mean a nonstop conversation the entire game. A ball was hit and made it to the wall. He raced over, picked up the ball and threw it to home plate on the fly. THe next time he got up he struck out on three pitches. He came back out to the outfield and apologized. He is also my favorite worst player.

[mctheplaywright]

I’m here almost exactly seven years in the future with a Frenchy update for those curious. He’d play only 26 games for the Marlines, turning 50 at bats into a shockingly low single RBI. That was the end of the seemingly invincible careers of Jeff Francoeur.
But, you can’t keep Frenchy down. He began working as a part-time Color Commentator for the Braves less than six months later. He impressed the organization so much that when long time lead television analyst Joe Simpson retired a year and a half later, Frenchy got the gig. He’s been at it for half a decade, with no sign of stopping any time soon.

[wompastompa]

>He's 5'7"
>It's not even all that short.
Th-thanks.

[Melthornal]

My brother is much older than me, he graduated high school when I was 3 years old. He then moved away, and never talked to me. I saw him about once every 4-5 years after that, usually for an hour or less. One day, we sat down with my dad to watch a baseball game. We watched the Mets play the Phillies. At the end, the Mets were making this great comeback, and I was really excited. Then Jeff Francoeur hit into an unassisted triple play. My brother sat back and said "well, that's the mets for you." And got up and left. My dad died shortly after. I've seen my brother once since my dad's funeral.

When Frenchy was standing there looking at the ground after that triple play, I was doing the same exact thing.

[xjdfghashzkj]

"He's like an endless void without any of the mystery"

Oh my god... priceless.

[henrykates]

I met Jeff Francoeur back in 2009 when he showed up at a Modell's in NYC as part of a promotional event. My family, though loyal mets fans, didn't even realize the event was going on, us kids just needed new backpacks. Anyway, we go inside, and Francoeur is sitting at a table, by himself, and the store is empty. My dad gets to talking with him as we picked out our bags, and when we learned who he was, we were thrilled. He was the nicest guy, and told us stories about his time in the MLB. He even signed my backpack. It's a shame his career went sideways like that, but I'll always remember him as one of the nicest guys I've ever met.

[travnasty]

Frenchy has more assists than any other outfielder since 2005. that's why he is still here

[AgusSimoncelli]

I have never watched a match of baseball, I didn't get at least half of the data you put in the video, and I don't have the sightliest idea of who Jeff Francoeur, but I still loved this video.

[Buonomo]

He throws baseballs real good too. Throwing baseballs is the most baseball thing. I know this because the only baseball thing I can do good is throw baseballs and at all the baseball tryouts the first thing they have you do is throw baseballs, so after 5 minutes the baseball coaches come up to me and say: "Wow kid, you're really good at throwing baseballs! How would you like to be on our baseball team?"

I imagine Frenchy has had much the same experience.

[HeyBenSchuller]

how did i just now discover this series. this shit is amazing

[BmAction]

Frenchy won a golden glove and has a insane amount outfield assisted outs. Best outfield arm in the last 15 years. That's why he is valuable.

[MaximumJonathanosity]

I was hoping to see Koo Dae Sung at the top of the first chart.

[CarlosPerezESP]

WHERE DO I HAVE TO PUT MY MONEY TO SEE A VIDEO BY JON BOIS EVERY WEEK, THANKS IN ADVANCE

[FivePointsVids]

videos of hot knives cutting through soda cans get 5 million views but this genius can't scrape out 56K for this flash of cerebral excellence. A sure sign humanity is doomed.

[SolusBatty]

You truly are an undiscovered gem Jon.

[TheYAProblem]

You just made Francoeur my favorite baseball player with this video.

[MountainFisher]

My daughter-in-law is friends with Catie, Jeff's wife. I went to dinner at Jeff's parent's house once with my son and his wife. Brian McCann who was Jeff's best friend then was there too. Jeff Francoeur was having problems in the club house with the Braves then, it was May 2009. Jeff didn't complain once and really is as nice as he seems. Brian on the other hand had a few choice things to say about a Braves player that was being a jerk to Frenchy. In July Jeff was traded to the Mets. I have seen him a couple of times, but my son decided he'd had enough of working the trauma unit of an Atlanta area hospital chose to move back up here to the Mountains and I haven't seen him since 2013. Jeff and his wife are two of the nicest people you ever met and dislike him on the field all you want, I know I do, but in person you have to like the guy.

If you've watched the punk assed things his team mates did to him when he was with the AAA El Paso Chihuahuas the one thing you notice is he always came out with a smile and no animosity. A prank is one thing, cruelty is another and some of those assholes went over the line especially with the name calling and ingratitude because Jeff would take them out to dinner and pay for it and help out some of the guys struggling financially, because if you aren't on the 40 man roster AAA doesn't pay very much. Something like $2200 a month for 6 months, not much. Bet you all didn't know that because he didn't tell anyone.

[MichaelMike]

Sometimes it's worth having a guy that is sub par on the field but a superstar as a person. Helps keep everyone in a good mood.

[ticklemonster]

I'm a Braves fan and this man was a hometown hero, he was from Atlanta and was a great athlete and then he just faded. Kinda sad.

[spiv]

As an A's fan, I can confirm Jeff Francoeur as an awesome guy. Dude came out to the parking lot for BBQ and Bacon before the games.