The same Major League Baseball team that groomed the likes of Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz might have discovered another diamond in the rough in Mississauga’s David Francis.
In only his fifth appearance as a professional, the 20-year-old right-handed pitcher set a Danville Braves record by striking out 16 batters last night. And he only required six innings to do it.
Francis left the game after the sixth, having thrown 84 pitches, with a no-hitter in the balance, and watched as Matthew Small got one out before the game was rained out and officially scored a 1-0 win over Pulaski Mariners.
With the win, Francis improved his Appalachian League record to 3-1.
Francis, who graduated from St. Joseph Secondary School before attending Walters State Community College in Tennessee, has a 1.52 earned run average and has struck out 35 batters in 23.2 innings — not bad for a 12th-round draft pick, 370th overall, in MLB's 2008 June draft.
Francis, the third Canadian selected, signed for $100,000 four days after being picked.
On Tuesday, he was overwhelming with his fastball, striking out the side in the first, third, fourth and sixth innings.
His velocity was so impressive, he actually struck out Pulaski batter Juan Fuentes in the fourth inning on a wild pitch. With the baserunner reaching first base when the catcher failed to corral the ball, Francis settled back and struck out a fourth batter in the inning.
“I’m still kind of in awe,” Francis told MLB.com. “I never would have thought I would have done something like that in my third start. I’m pretty excited about it and I hope to do it again.”
Unable to harness his curveball in the early going, Francis relied almost entirely on the heater.
“I was trying to move my fastball four or five inches off the plate, both inside and outside, because I didn’t have my offspeed stuff until the third or fourth inning,” he explained. “In the third inning, I changed the grip on my curveball to give it more depth and it worked. I felt a lot more comfortable.”
Francis' ability to adapt during a game makes his college coach, Ken Campbell, proud.
Campbell, who coached Francis for two years, said the 6-foot-2 hurler, who had a 13-1 record in his final college season, only had to work on his composure.
“Sometimes he gets a little down on himself. He hits a sore spot now and then during a game.”
That hasn't been the case early in Francis’ professional career; he says his life as a pro is, in some ways, easier than his college days.
“In some ways, it’s a lot easier not having to worry about maintaining my grades to play.”
Having put away the books, Francis says he hopes to move up in the Braves’ minor league system, but he won’t spend much time thinking about it.
“I have no idea,” he said. “I’m hoping. It’s a possibility, but you don’t know until you get a call.”
Until then, Francis will concentrate on his next start, which comes this Sunday when the Braves host Johnson City Cardinals at Virginia’s Dan Daniel Memorial Park.
dwiner@mississauga.net
