New Arrival: Welbyn Francisca, ss, Cleveland Guardians
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I have been following Cleveland baseball long enough to know not to get too excited about position prospects who are not yet in affiliate ball, or super young, tool-laden foreign players whose prospect status is more based on scouting reports than production. They are just so far away and need so much development, it is just not worth getting too excited about yet. For every Jose Ramirez, you have three Dorssys Paulino, Andy Marte, or Luigi Rodriguez. Such is baseball.
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But if I was going to get excited about a player, I could do worse than shortstop Welbyn Francisca. In early 2023 the Guards signed him out of the Dominican Republic, where he was considered one of the top 50 international free agents.
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Francisca debuted a couple months ago in the Dominican Summer League, and has created a buzz with his offense. As of late July, he is hitting .344/.444/.991 with 3 HR and 11 stolen bases. One thing I do like: he walks almost as much as he strikes out (33:20), while also carrying a good batting average, which is always a good sign for a young hitter in a summer or complex league. People have noticed, and he recently cracked the Guards MLB prospect list at #30.
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I think this is a very nice-looking card. And I think much nicer than his 2023 Bowman autograph. I love the colors, and it’s on-card! Which is a nice surprise.