Jeff Francoeur New York Mets (11/1/2004)

What’s your philosophy?  What got you so far?

I think my philosophy’s really just get out there and play hard, week-to-week, day-to-day. Everyday come out here and play like it’s your last day. I think if you do that and put the effort in, things will pay off.

How about hitting?  Do you have a hitting philosophy?

Well, to be honest with you I’ve always kind of tried to make the adjustments. I think that’s the biggest thing not so much when things are going bad. When things are going good too you still have to make the adjustments. I think day in and day out you have to work on hitting the ball to opposite field, really work on that, work on staying inside the ball and not getting pull happy.  Not getting whatever.  I think really my in philosophy is work day in and day out to keep your swing like you want it more or less. One more thing is to feel comfortable at the plate.  If you feel comfortable usually you’ll get hits.

What are your strengths right now?

I’ve always said I think my number one strength is just my competitiveness I bring to the game. I love to win.  I hate to lose at anything I do. Anything I do, I’m talking even if it’s not a sport sometimes.

Fantasy  Football.

Yeah, Fantasy Football’s huge for me! I hate to lose and I think I can bring that out. I think I can get people around me rallied and ready to go. Just being able to be an athlete out there on the field is my number one strength, being able to run and hit, and throw, and just do everything. I love to do everything out there.

Pitchers throw inside and outside to set your hitters up.  Do you set up pitchers?

Yeah, I would say at times. To me a lot of times the first at bat is a good one to kind of set yourself up.  Not so much out here, ’cause you’re seeing a new pitcher every at bat, but like in a regular game when you’re seeing a starter three times. I think for a hitter if you can see a lot of their pitches the first at-bat you’re setting them up. Now you know what he’s got and it makes it harder. If there’s a pitch, like for me, I struggle with a slider, and I can hit their slider early, now I make him come into my wheelhouse ’cause he’s not going to throw that slider again. He’ll probably bring the fastball that is something I like to hit. So I think you can somewhat trick a pitcher sometimes. Once you get in the Big Leagues for a while, a hitter’s is going to know pitchers, and pitchers, hitters. They’re going to know each other more but right now I think you can get an advantage.

At times it seems that guys they say have all the talent in the world but don’t seem to go as far as guys with lesser talent.  Do you see that?

Yeah, I think you definitely do.  I think that comes down to obviously catching a break. Some guys are in an organization where it’s tough to move. You have Big Leaguer’s that have been there, get paid a lot in front of you. It’s very tough to move where some guy’s have an open space and their teams are not doing so well so you get called up or something. I think it’s all about that.  I also think it’s hard work. I’ve always said I think you can have all the talent in the world, but if you don’t work at it, you’re never going to keep it going.  I think if you work out every year like it’s your first spring training going in trying to make the club, I think you’ll be successful.

Do you think first-round draft picks get more chances?

Yeah, they definitely do I think. Obviously they have money invested in a player so first off I don’t think the team wants to look stupid if you draft a guy and he’s not what you think he was. But I think he’s definitely going to get some chances.  A lot of times we’ll get a chance to come out and compete here and play a little extra ball, which always helps.  So yeah, I think it’s definitely true that he’ll get a little bit more chances sometimes.

Organizations trade for guys, and draft guys all to take your spot ahead of you. How do you approach that?

You always know there’s going to be new guys coming in every year no matter how good you are, how good the Big Leaguer is, there’s always going to be some young guys trying to come in and take your job.  That’s what makes this game so great, so competitive. That’s why I love to play because there’s always someone pushing you, and you’re always pushing someone else. I think you just have to take it coming in like I said being a competitor. This is my job, I’m going to win it, and nobody’s going to take it away from me.

Was there ever a time in your career you wanted to give up baseball?

Yeah, actually when I was 13 I had played so much baseball I actually quit for the summer and played golf, strictly.  I had a great time but it made me realize how much I missed it. I’d always been a football guy, too.  My other number one sport I love but it just didn’t make sense for me to give up on what I wanted to do.  Football was there but baseball’s always what I wanted to do. So I couldn’t give up that dream.

What are some things you learned about pro sports the hard way that nobody told you about?

I think in pro sports the hardest thing is you’ve always got someone watching you, which can be unfair at times. Sometimes you’ll get a bad rap for something. Say you go out there and sign a 100 autographs but you miss a couple little kids or something, Then all of a sudden these kids are, “Oh, he’s just a bad guy.”  You get a bad rap. You can’t sign for everybody. I think as long as you’re out there signing some, talking to people, I think that should be good enough. Hopefully fans will respect that and will accept that.

Do you think chemistry in the clubhouse affects a team?

I think it’s affected huge.  I know last year in Myrtle we lost a couple guys, lost our catcher, lost another guy to arm problems, I got hit in the face and actually had to have surgery. You start losing some guys like that and it does affect you because after you start a season you get close to these guys, you’re always with them. Some of the guys that are married are with these guys more than there with their wife. During the season you’re with them everyday, every road trip, even on off days. You think, “Hey let’s get away,” and everybody’s together when you go to the beach or something. I think that affects the team huge. I think it showed in the World Series this year. Boston has such a close-knit group and they won the World Series.

How important is weightlifting?

Huge, especially for me. I’ve always been a football player so I lifted all through high school and never had a problem. If I don’t lift I don’t feel right. If I go a week without lifting something I can start to feel it and I feel my power numbers drop. It’s definitely huge for me. Some people take it a little less serious but I take it really serious.

Even during the season?

During the season, I workout about two/three times a week, just to maintain. During the off-season I get out there real hard.

Do you read the scouting reports or what people write about you?

Yeah, sometimes. I think it’s hard not to read it because I love to read the sports page in the paper and I love like Baseball America and all that. You’ll read that. But I think you also have to take the good with the bad. Sometimes they write negative stuff and you can’t let that get to you. You can only do so much. Like they say all it takes is a couple people to like you. So if some scout doesn’t like you from another club who cares?  It’s not the end of the world.  Some scouts like some stuff; some scouts don’t like other stuff. I think you do read that but you don’t let it get to you.

How do you handle fans, people yelling, screaming?  Does that affect you when you play?

No, that’s fun.  That’s fun for me.  I’ve always loved that, that’s always got me going.  I love playing in anything like that.  Sometimes it might hurt me a little bit. Sometimes I might get a little too carried away and try to do too much when I go up to the plate.  I tell myself to relax, whatever, I’m usually good.

How do you handle the umpires?

I think you got to handle them well. I rarely ever say anything to an umpire unless it’s just blatantly obvious because to me they always remember who you are. They’re always going to remember that number on your back if you aired them out or if you said something. I think later on in life you never know who you’re going to run into down the road. The guys out here might be behind the plate in Game 7 of the World Series in ten years and I promise you they’ll remember who you are. We remember who the umpires are. They remember who we are. They see our names on our jerseys. I think it’s important to be respectful in that area.

Brush-backs, knockdowns, and retaliation, what do you think about that?

I hate the American league rule, the DH, because I think if a pitcher had to get up there and hit they wouldn’t do it as much as the do there. I think it shows you. I think with a guy like Roger Clemmons this past year, he doesn’t throw inside nearly as much as he did with the Yankees because he knows he’s got to get up there and hit. Those guys have no fear to throw inside when they don’t have to hit. When you got to hit, and you got to actually stare a 95 miles per hour fastball down, you’re going to be tentative to throw it up in there. I think there’s definitely good pitches coming inside, the pitch down to back you off the plate, but when you start trying to come up here I just think it’s very dangerous. I don’t think there’s room for that in baseball.

When pitchers throw inside you’re going to get hit?

You’re going to hit.

Those things are going to happen.

But when you start doing it up here even and I know it’s part of the game, sometimes you’re going to hit a player on purpose.  I understand that’s how the game is, but you always got to stay down here. I can’t stand when these guys let loose and try to come up here. There’s no room for that in the game. It can end someone’s career. That’s not good.

Any thoughts on being traded?

I’ve always thought I’d play in the Big Leagues with Atlanta. I’ve learned more over the years that baseball is a business and that anything could happen. I’m capable of going to any team at the same time as anybody else is. I think you always got to keep an open mind about it. Yeah, sure I’d love to play in the Big Leagues with Atlanta. It’s always been a dream of mine, coming from Atlanta, but if it doesn’t happen then life would go on. I’m looking forward to hopefully playing there someday but you always got to keep an open mind.

What would you tell a kid in high school about professional baseball?

I would tell them to be sure that you wanted to do that. With my physical maturity level I felt like I was ready to go. My parents brought me up great and I was ready to be out on my own. I know some guys at the age of 18 that aren’t ready to be out on their own yet. I’d say definitely make it worth your while. Obviously signing bonus is very important. What they give you is a college education coming back. I think you have to choose wisely. For me it ended up becoming a no-brainer that this is what I wanted to do. I knew this was my fastest route to get a wooden bat in my hand now and that’s what I needed to do.

Anything else about baseball that I didn’t cover that you want to talk about?

No, I think you just have fun out there, give your best everyday, and the rest takes care of itself.