The Kansas City Royals have signed third baseman Mikael Franco from the Philadelphia Phillies. The terms of the deal are for one year and worth $2.95 million.
In 2019, Franco batted .234 with the Phillies. He had 17 home runs and 56 runs batted in. During his 123 games, Franco had 389 at bats, scored 48 runs, collected 91 hits, 17 doubles, 36 walks, had an on base percentage of .297, slugging percentage of .409, 80 total bases and three sacrifice flies.
At 27 years of age, Franco is from Azua, Dominican Republic. He has played his entire six year Major League Baseball career with the Phillies. Franco’s best Major League Baseball season came in 2016 when he set career highs in home runs (25), runs batted in (88), runs scored (67), hits (148) and total bases (248).
Hunter Dozier led the Royals with 100 games at third base in 2019. He is expected to make the transition to right field in 2020 with all-star Whit Merrifield moving over from right field to center field on a regular basis. The everyday move to center field makes complete sense because Merrifield is one of the fastest Royals on the team, and can utilize his speed in a prime defensive position. Merrifield led the American League with 34 stolen bases in 2017 and Major League Baseball with 45 stolen bases in 2018.
The Phillies meanwhile appear to have decided to move center fielder Scott Kingery to third base and give more outfield time to Adam Haseley, who is entering his second season in Major League Baseball. The Royals are still in a position of rebuilding. They had a record of 59 wins and 103 losses in 2019.
