- Nick Franklin (baseball)
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Nick Franklin Seattle Mariners — No. — Shortstop Born: March 2, 1991
Longwood, FloridaBats: Switch Throws: Right Nicholas E. "Nick" Franklin (born March 2, 1991Longwood, Florida) is an American professional baseball shortstop in the Seattle Mariners organization. He was drafted in the first round, 27th pick overall, of the 2009 Major League Baseball Draft. He attended Lake Brantley High School where he won numerous awards, including being named the player of the year by the Orlando Sentinel in 2009. Franklin made his professional debut in 2009, playing at two different levels in the Mariners' organization. Franklin is a switch-hitter who throws right-handed. He stands at 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m) and weighs 170 pounds (77 kg).
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Amateur career
In 2007 and 2008, Franklin played for the USA Baseball Youth National Team, which played in Canada and Venezuela.[1] Franklin attended Lake Brantley High School. He took two months off of baseball after his junior season to weight train.[2] On April 16, 2009 Orlando Sentinel named Franklin the "Boy Athlete of the Week".[3] Franklin was named the "Orlando Sentinel Baseball Player of the Year" in 2009 after he batted .538 with 11 home runs.[4] During his time in high school, a professional baseball scout compared Franklin's skills to that of a "switch-hitting Michael Young".[5]
Professional career
Franklin was drafted by the Seattle Mariners in the first round of the 2009 Major League Baseball Draft.[6] Before being drafted, Franklin committed to play baseball at Auburn University.[6] On August 16, 2009 the Mariners signed Franklin to a contract with a $1.28 million signing bonus.[7] After signing, Franklin got to meet with members of the 2009 Mariners, which included Ken Griffey, Jr.[7] Franklin began his professional career in 2009, splitting the season between the rookie-league AZL Mariners of the Arizona League, and the Class-A Short-Season Everett AquaSox of the Northwest League. In the Arizona league, Franklin batted .302 with six runs, 13 hits, two doubles, one home run, and four runs batted in (RBIs) in 10 games. With the AquaSox, Franklin batted .400 with four runs, eight hits, two doubles, one triple, and two RBIs in six games.
Before the 2010 season, Baseball America named Franklin the seventh best prospect in the Mariners' organization.[8] Franklin began the 2010 season with the Class-A Clinton LumberKings of the Midwest League.[9] On April 11, Franklin hit two home runs in the same game.[10] Also in that game, Franklin was a single shy of hitting for the cycle.[10] With the LumberKings that year, Franklin has batted .281 with 89 runs, 144 hits, 22 doubles, seven triples, 23 home runs, 65 RBIs, and 25 stolen bases. He also played one game with the Double-A West Tenn Diamond Jaxx that season, getting two hits in three at-bats. At the end of the season, Baseball American named him as the sixth best prospect in the Midwest League.[11]
Scouting report
Jim Street, reporter for MLB.com, calls Franklin a "versatile" player who can play the infield, the outfield, and even pitch.[6] Jonathan Mayo, also of MLB.com, said that Franklin has the potential for power, and also noted that "[Franklin's] got wiry strength and decent speed".[12] MLB.com rated Franklin a "solid defender" and his arm strength "average".[13] Seattle Mariners' general manager Jack Zduriencik and scouting director Tom McNamara were reportedly impressed by Franklin's dedication to the game of baseball.[14] On January 25, 2011 MLB.com revealed their top 50 best prospects in baseball list, in which Franklin was listed as the 38th best prospect in Major League Baseball.
References
- ^ "Nick Franklin Stats, Bio, Photos, Highlights — MiLB.com". MiLB.com. Minor League Baseball. http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?pos=SS&sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=545338. Retrieved June 2, 2010.
- ^ Zach McCann (June 4, 2009). "Added muscle powers Lake Brantley's Nick Franklin to baseball Player of Year honors". Orlando Sentinel. Orlando Sentinel. http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2009-06-04/sports/hsbase04_1_lake-brantley-franklin-felipe. Retrieved June 2, 2010.
- ^ Zach McCann (April 16, 2009). "Boys athlete of the week: Nick Franklin, Lake Brantley baseball". Orlando Sentinel. Orlando Sentinel. http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2009-04-16/sports/vtwbpow16_1_nick-franklin-lake-howell-opposing-teams. Retrieved June 2, 2010.
- ^ "Mariners sign first-round draft pick INF Nick Franklin". MLB.com. Major League Baseball. August 16, 2009. http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090816&content_id=6452986&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb. Retrieved June 2, 2010.
- ^ Conor Glassey (June 2, 2009). "Borchering, Franklin, Johnson among Florida prospects on the rise". Baseball America. Time Inc. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/baseball/mlb/06/01/prospects.florida/index.html. Retrieved June 2, 2010.
- ^ a b c Jim Street (June 10, 2009). "Mariners add offense in first round". MLB.com. Major League Baseball. http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090609&content_id=5227984&vkey=news_sea&fext=.jsp&c_id=sea. Retrieved June 2, 2010.
- ^ a b Tom Wyrwich (August 16, 2009). "Franklin signing official; still no word on top pick Ackley". The Seattle Times. The Seattle Times Company. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/marinersblog/2009673917_franklin_signing_official_stil.html?syndication=rss. Retrieved June 2, 2010.
- ^ Matt Eddy (January 22, 2010). "Top 10 Prospects: Seattle Mariners". Baseball America. Baseball America. http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/rankings/organization-top-10-prospects/2010/269393.html. Retrieved June 2, 2010.
- ^ "LumberKings Announce 2010 Opening Day Roster". OurSports Central. April 5, 2010. http://www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/?id=3985525. Retrieved June 2, 2010.
- ^ a b "Franklin Homers Twice, Falls Just Short of Cycle". OurSports Central. April 11, 2010. http://www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/?id=3989138. Retrieved June 2, 2010.
- ^ Callis, Jim (1 October 2010). "Midwest League Top 20 Prospects". Baseball American. Baseball American. http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/rankings/league-top-20-prospects/2010/2610732.html. Retrieved 2 October 2010.
- ^ Jonathan Mayo (May 26, 2009). "Draft Preview: Middle infielders". MLB.com. Major League Baseball. http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090525&content_id=4956606&vkey=draft2009&fext=.jsp. Retrieved June 2, 2010.
- ^ "2009 Draft Reports: Nick Franklin". MLB.com. Major League Baseball. http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/events/draft/y2009/reports.jsp?content=franklin. Retrieved June 2, 2010.
- ^ Gregg Bell (June 9, 2009). "Mariners draft Ackley, then Fla. high school SS". Associated Press. The Seattle Times Company. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009320108_apbbadraftmariners2ndld.html. Retrieved June 2, 2010.
External links
- Career statistics and player information from Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)
Seattle Mariners first-round draft picks 1977: Dave Henderson | 1978: Tito Nanni | 1979: Al Chambers | 1980: Darnell Coles | 1981: Mike Moore | 1982: Spike Owen | 1983: Darrel Akerfelds, Terry Bell | 1984: Bill Swift | 1985: Mike Campbell, Bill McGuire | 1986: Patrick Lennon | 1987: Ken Griffey, Jr. | 1988: Tino Martinez | 1989: Roger Salkeld, Scott Burrell | 1990: Marc Newfield, Anthony Manahan | 1991: Shawn Estes | 1992: Ron Villone | 1993: Alex Rodriguez | 1994: Jason Varitek | 1995: José Cruz, Jr. | 1996: Gil Meche | 1997: Ryan Anderson | 1998: Matt Thornton | 1999: Ryan Christianson, Jeff Heaverlo | 2000: No first round pick | 2001: Michael Garciaparra | 2002: John Mayberry, Jr. | 2003: Adam Jones | 2004: No first round pick | 2005: Jeff Clement | 2006: Brandon Morrow | 2007: Phillippe Aumont, Matt Mangini | 2008: Josh Fields | 2009: Dustin Ackley, Nick Franklin, Steven Baron | 2010: Taijuan Walker | 2011: Danny HultzenJackson Generals current roster Active roster 2 Carlos Triunfel | 3 Brandon Haveman | 5 Rich Poythress | 7 Scott Savastano | 8 Brandon Bantz | 12 Johermyn Chávez * | 15 Luis Antonio Jiménez | 16 James Gillheeney | 17 Steven Hensley | 18 Jake Shaffer | 19 Brian Moran | 21 Vincent Catricala | 22 Kenn Kasparek | 24 Francisco Martinez | 25 James Paxton | 31 Chih-Hsien Chiang | 33 Daniel Cooper | 38 Andrew Carraway | 40 Bobby LaFromboise | 41 Edward Paredes | 44 Stephen Penney | 50 Stephen Pryor | 55 Moises Hernandez
Disabled list 9 Nick Franklin | 13 Nate Tenbrink | 29 Kuo Hui Lo | — Edilio Colina | — Nick Hill | — Eddy Martinez-Esteve
Coaching staff Manager 20 Jim Pankovits | Pitching Coach 27 Lance Painter | Hitting Coach 28 Cory Snyder
* Member of the 40-man roster of the Seattle MarinersCategories:- 1991 births
- Living people
- Auburn Tigers baseball players
- Baseball shortstops
- Baseball players from Florida
- Arizona League Mariners players
- Everett AquaSox players
- Clinton LumberKings players
- West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx players
- High Desert Mavericks players
- Jackson Generals (Southern League) players
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