16 Ks, 0 H in 6ip.. how has no one posted this yet?!

by nms on Jul 25, 2008 11:41 PM EDT

This happened a couple days ago and I didn't see anyone post it so I thought I'd throw it out there. I'm kind of surprised no one posted anything about it yet (if someone did, my apologies).

http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080722&content_id=436128&vkey=news_milb&fext=.jsp

Braves prospect David Francis, 13th rounder out of JUCO power Walters (TN) State JC, struck out 16 batters in a 6 inning no-hitter.

Thats a pretty freakin' dominant outing.

The 'pen threw another hitless inning before rain ended the affair.

On the year Francis has throw 24 IP, giving up just 9 hits and 5 walks while striking out 35 and going 3-1 with a 1.52 ERA in 5 games/3 starts. In fact he gave up 3 of his 4 ERs in his 1st pro outing.. since then hes gone 22 IP with just 3 BBs, 32 Ks, 8 H and 1 ER.

Francis' college coach made his stuff sound good but not overpowering like he has shown this far, and keep in mind the coach is obviously biased in favor of his kid..

"College coach Ken Campbell described Francis to the Mississauga News as a "power pitcher" who can throw in the low-90s and also "has a good curveball and a pretty good change-up.""

Since he wasn't a highly drafted, his stuff sounds more "good" than "great" and short-season stats mean almost (but not quite) nothing I don't know if Francis is someone who is going to do big things pretty soon or what but 16k, 6ip, 0h is as dominant as anyone can pitch at any level.. so hes at least worth remembering.

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a couple other random notes

his college, Walters St CC(in Morristown, TN.. which seems like a nice little town from the several times I’ve driven through), won the JUCO WS a couple years ago and had 6 guys picked in ‘06 and 08 plus some of their recruits were picked fairly high each year. The Braves seem to love the place… having picked 3 guys from there in 06 and 4 in 08. In fact they drafted OF Adam Milligan out of HS once and twice out of Walters St, including in round 6 this year.

The Braves were actually all about JUCO picks this year picking up 21 of their 50 picks from JUCOs and often picked multiple times from the same school.. 4 from Walters (plus one incoming recruit), 2 picks from Western Nevada CC, 2 from Wallace St (AL) CC, 2 from Blinn (TX) JC, 2 from Cleveland (TN) St CC in additon to single picks from many other schools in TX, CA, AL, FL, NM and NC.
7 of their top 10 and 18 of their top 30 picks were JUCOs.

Fun fact about Francis.. he is from the same town in Canada (Missasauga.. its next to Toronto) as former Danville Braves star Jamie Richmond. Them Canadians sure do know how to dominate short-season ball

by nms on Jul 25, 2008 11:55 PM EDT reply actions

Juco is the new draft-and-follow?

by mraver on Jul 26, 2008 8:51 AM EDT up reply actions

Braves and Scouting Canada

The Braves have been pretty active in drafting Canadians in the amateur draft, especially players from Ontario. Pete Orr is from Richmond Hill a suburb of Toronto, Scott Thorman is from Cambridge, Jamie Romak is from London an hour west of Toronto. Combined with Richmond, they have had a good amount of success find prospects in Canada.

by tdot mariner fan on Jul 29, 2008 12:16 AM EDT up reply actions

Yep

Good point. They had enough faith in Thor, and their Canadian scouting and the talent up there in general, to take him in 30-35th overall right out of his Canadian HS.. no JUCO ball or anything

by nms on Jul 29, 2008 1:00 AM EDT up reply actions