Recent report takes a shot at Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Bowden Francis
Photo credit: Toronto Star
The Toronto Blue Jays have extremely high hopes for starting pitcher Bowden Francis heading into the 2025 season but it seems like no everyone has faith.
Francis is coming off an unbelievable season in 2024, despite having a slow start, Francis was one of the best pitchers in baseball in the second half of the season as he came close to two no hitters and finished the season with a 3.30 ERA.
There was a stretch during summer of 2024 that Francis looked like the very best starting pitcher in all of baseball. He came close to throwing not one but two no-hitters and was suddenly a completely unhittable hurler on the mound. He finished his first full season in the big leagues with a 3.30 ERA, 4.36 FIP and 122 ERA+ across 103.2 innings of work. -Treuden
Recent report does not believe that Bowden Francis will be able to deliver for the Blue Jays in 2025
The Blue Jays want to make some changes to their starting rotation but one pitcher they seem as a big part of their rotation is Bowden Francis who had an incredible second half of the season in 2024.
While the Blue Jays have high hopes for Francis, a recent report pointed out that the STEAMER projections have him making a serious drop off from the 2024 season as they believe that his ERA will go up to 4.32.
In what will be his first full season strictly as a starter, Francis is projected to come back down to earth quite a bit. Granted, his first-half numbers looked rough this past season, so it's possible that STEAMER is factoring in a lot of those performances into his 2025 numbers. -Treuden
While many do believe that Francis will be able to return to the same pitcher he was at the end of 2024, many believe that he will have a significant drop off in the 2025 season.
All told, he's projected to make 28 starts, posting a 4.32 ERA across 158 innings. STEAMER thinks his strikeouts per nine innings will experience an uptick, but he'll strikeout batters at a lower percentage and see his walk rate will also raise from 1.91 in 2024 to 2.50 in 2025. -Treuden
Due to Francis' small sample size as a starting pitcher, it is hard to know how he will do in 2025 during a full season but with the way he was pitching in 2024, it is better to give him the benefit of the doubt.
Source: Jays Journal
New 2025 projections: 3 Blue Jays that will excel, 2 that will decline
New 2025 projections: 3 Blue Jays that will excel, 2 that will decline
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