It is a special day for fans of Major League Baseball. Even when it doesn’t involve the Chicago White Sox, it is fun when the game’s number one prospect makes his Major League debut. That is going to be the reality tonight for Wander Franco of the Tampa Bay Rays as he makes his MLB debut against the Boston Red Sox. It is going to be very fun to see how he plays in his first career game.
The Chicago White Sox just barely missed playing against Wander Franco.
The Tampa Bay Rays were just in town to play the White Sox. Chicago took two games out of three from the Rays who are one of the best teams in the American League. Since leaving Chicago with two straight losses, They went on to lose another four so they are officially in a slump. This may be part of the reason that they are calling up Franco as they hope he can be a big help.
Franco is a shortstop and he should be in the starting lineup right away. He just turned 20 back in March so saying that he is young would be an understatement. He is going to be the first player in the history of Major League Baseball to be born in 2001 or later. It is fair to wonder how he is going to do against Major League pitching.
If he does well, you have to figure that he will be with the Rays for the rest of the season. The White Sox will travel down to Tampa Bay to play the Rays again in late August so it would be fun to see Franco face White Sox pitching. He has other things on his mind right now.
In addition to this being an exciting series because of the Franco stuff, it is a huge game in the standings as well. The Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox are separated for first place by 0.5 games in the American League East. The winner of the series is going to come out with a lead in the American League’s best division. They are both tied with the White Sox at 43 wins on the year.
Franco spent this season so far with the Durham Bulls, Tampa’s AAA affiliate. He was sensational there with a .315/.367/.586 slash line for an OPS of .954. He also had 7 home runs, 11 doubles, and 35 RBIs over the course of 39 games played down there. Of course, those are incredible numbers and it is about time we see him face some Major League pitching. Hopefully, he doesn’t hurt the White Sox too bad over his career.