milledge vs francoeur

Milledge vs. Francoeur

The Mets won the rubber game of the Dodgers series, 9-7. Pitching on

three days rest, Tom Glavine said afterward he felt "too good," which

is a little strange considering it was a pretty terrible performance.

But it was good enough thanks in no small part to Lastings Milledge.

Milledge's batting line through a mere 26 AB is .308/.321/.692. Except

for the average being not quite as gaudy, it's more than a little

reminiscent of Jeff Francoeur's debut last year, and I think the

comparison holds up pretty well.

Both were highly touted outfield prospects who were drafted out of

high school, put up great numbers in the minors, and were considered

Five Tool players, but still had their weak spots: Milledge showed

little home run power and Francoeur little plate discipline.

I don't know how long this comparison will look reasonable, but I

think it's clear that you could say of both of them that on their best

days they are capable of being tremendously valuable major leaguers.

But you need only look at how far Francoeur has regressed this year

(.701 OPS) to get an idea of why I'm still reluctant to get too

attached to the idea of Milledge being the toolsy OF equivalent of

David Wright.

That's exactly what he looked like last night, though, and the Mets

now have the best record in the N.L. and lead the Phillies by four

games. The Braves? Still "biding their time" seven games off the pace.

Grimsley Update

There's a post up on deadspin.com that identifies (or reports the

identification of) strength and conditioning coach Chris Mihlfeld as

one of the main suppliers. You'll never guess who his client list