ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – How Wander Franco has been handling the bumps and bruises that come with being a young major league player have not been acceptable to manager Kevin Cash and the Rays.
Cash opened his pregame press conference Thursday afternoon by announcing the 22-year-old shortstop will not play at least the first two games of a four-game series against Kansas City at Tropicana Field.
This development takes place two years to the day Franco made his MLB debut.
“Wander is a really good kid, a really good person,” said Cash, whose team went into Thursday night’s game against the Royals with an MLB-best 52-25 mark. “He’s a young player that is learning and dealing with the challenges of being a major league player and some of the frustrations that come with it.”
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While Cash would not go into detail, Franco did not speak to the media following Sunday’s game in San Diego in which he made two errors on the same play during a 5-4 loss. He is also 2-for-20 in his last five games.
“Over the course of this season, there have been probably multiple times that the way he has handled his frustrations have not been the way that we ask our players to uphold being the best teammate,” said Cash. “That being said, we are going to continue to support Wander as he works through this.”
In 73 games, Franco is hitting .287 with eight homers, 34 RBI and 24 stolen bases, which are good second in the American League.
“We know that he is a really good kid and look forward to having him back,” said Cash.
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