Bowden Francis' ace-like run deserves another round of applause

On a beautiful Wednesday afternoon at the Rogers Centre in mid-September, Blue Jays fans were almost treated to history once again. What a great way to spend the last "Work From Dome" on the 2024 schedule and plenty of reason to distract you from coworkers at the office. Francis' mastery of a stout New York Mets lineup represented the best from a talented young pitcher and a bright spot for a team that has had difficulty unearthing these gems. We can't wait to see what this native of Florida has for an encore in 2025.

This past season didn't exactly get off to the brightest of starts for the 28-year-old. After producing an 8.59 ERA in the season's first month, it would have been easy to feel that Francis was destined for further struggles. Acquired in 2021 from the Milwaukee Brewers, he experienced moderate success with the Blue Jays and starred in this year's spring training.

At the same time, pitching in a big-league rotation is another animal entirely. Those first two outings against Houston (famously the game Toronto was no-hit themselves) and New York were the unquestioned low points for a pitcher that had so much promise coming out of spring training.

"The curveball was good and the heater, they were on it when it was up in the zone," Francis said in reacting to the debacle in Houston, per Sportsnet's Ben Nicholson-Smith. "That's my strength and they knew I was coming with it and they were ready for it."

Soon thereafter, Francis went to the bullpen and the tinkering process began to take hold. He posted better numbers and filled the "bulk reliever" role out of the bullpen. Before long, he succumbed to the injury bug and was eventually demoted to Buffalo. We all would have been frustrated and disappointed.

Baseball can be all about opportunity. Do you take advantage of that one opportunity you receive? The dismal performance of the 2024 Blue Jays certainly created opportunities for a whole host of young players after the trade deadline. When Yusei Kikuchi was shipped off to Houston, it created an opportunity for Francis to once again show that he was benefiting from all the hard work he was putting in. Francis ran with the opportunity.

Since that re-introduction to the Major Leagues at the end of July, Francis made 10 starts and threw 65 innings, allowing a 1.80 ERA. He struck out 24.7% of batters faced, only walked batters 3.4% of the time and posted a downright stingy 0.60 WHIP. Embedded in that stretch of dominance was Player of the Week and American League Pitcher of the Month awards. Plus, the aforementioned brushes with history that almost had fans citing his name in trivia questions for decades to come.

Francis doesn't rely on blazing heat to blow batters away. Instead, he uses an excellent command of the strike zone to generate weak contact whenever possible. Four-seam fastball was the primary pitch of choice, with the splitter and curveball mixed in at varying rates. Looking at his Baseball Savant page, he registers a low 21.2% Whiff rate, which may lead to questions about his ability to miss bats. However, a promising 3.39 xERA makes it seem like the underlying fundamentals remain strong for the righthander.

"I'm happy, I'm proud of it," Francis said in recapping his entire body of work, per MLB.com's Keegan Matheson. "This (season) didn't start the way I wanted it to, but it's the way you finish."

Francis finished the season with an 8-5 record, a 3.30 ERA and a 0.93 WHIP in 103.2 innings. He also developed an attractive personality in the city of Toronto. He is one of a handful of players that holds so much promise for the 2025 Blue Jays. Heading into his age-29 season and not a free agent until 2030, the Jays need to do everything in their power to not screw this guy up. This past season was downright amazing but who knows what to expect for the upcoming year? At the same time, barring unforeseen circumstances, it would appear Francis has an inside track for a rotation spot this spring.