Full name is Maikel Antonio Franco (pronounced: Michael Fraun-CO)…resides in Ansonia, Azua, Dominican Republic during the offseason ... Attended Liceo Azua de Compostela, where he played both baseball and basketball ... Participated in Royals FanFest in 2020.
2019
Spent a majority of the season with Philadelphia, batting .234 (91-for-389) with 17 doubles, 17 homers and 56 RBI…ranked second in the Majors, receiving 19 intentional walks, trailing only the Dodgers' Cody Bellinger (21) ... Made 100 starts with the Phillies, including 99 at third base and one at first base ... Made his fourth-straight Opening Day roster and had three stints in the Majors (Opening Day to Aug. 3; Aug. 23-25 and Sept. 5 to end of season) ... Slugged his first career Opening Day home run on March 28 vs. Atlanta, blasting a three-run shot off Shane Carle in the sixth inning…also homered in the second game of the year, becoming the first Phillie to go deep in each of the first two games of the season since Ryan Howard in 2010 ... Drew three intentional walks and hit a solo home run on April 2 at Washington, becoming the first Major League player to do that since Paul Goldschmidt on May 31, 2015 at Milwaukee ... Walked in his first six games of the year, extending his streak to a career-best seven-straight contests with a walk, dating back to Sept. 23, 2018 ... Through his first 30 games (Opening Day-May 1), he slashed .262/.344/.514 with six doubles, seven homers and 25 RBI… also drew 14 walks compared to 12 strikeouts ... Did not strike out in a season-best 38 consecutive plate appearances (March 31-April 10) ... Hit his second career walk-off home run on July 14 vs. Washington (Matt Grace) in a 4-3 triumph…roundtripper was the 100th of his career ... Played in 12 games with Lehigh Valley (AAA), batting .175 (7-for-40) with two doubles, a triple, two homers and six RBI.
2018
Was the only player in MLB with 20 or more HR and 62 or fewer strikeouts...Led the club in AVG...Posted his third straight 20-homer season... Homered in 5 straight home games from 9/29/17-4/7/18... Collected at least 4 RBI in consecutive games, 4/5 & 4/7 vs MIA, for the second time in his career (also: 6/22-23/15 at NYY)...On 4/7 vs MIA, slugged a grand slam in the 1st inning (Dillon Peters), the fourth of his career (last: 4/26/17 vs MIA)...Tied his career high with 4 hits, 6/23 at WSH... Logged his third and fourth career multi-HR games: 7/23 vs LAD and 7/26 at CIN... His 7 HR in July were his most in a single calendar month since June 2015, when he slugged a career-high 8 HR... Slugged his first career walk-off HR on 8/2 vs MIA (3-run shot, 9th inn. off Kyle Barraclough); it was his second career walk-off hit (other: single, 4/22/17 vs ATL)...Played in his 500th career game, 8/3 vs MIA...From 7/10-end of the season, hit .317 (13-41), 2B, 4 HR, 19 RBI with RISP...In his last 68 games (6/23-end of season), batted .298 (67-225), 11 2B, 13 HR, 32 RBI, 15 BB, .342 OBP and .520 SLG %...Went 4-for-12 (.333), HR, 11 RBI, BB with the bases loaded.
2017
Established career highs in games (154), doubles (29), XBH (53), walks (41) and go-ahead RBI (24)... Had a team-high 12 HR that either tied the game or gave the Phillies a lead... T-3rd in the NL in grand slams (2)... Became the first Phillies 3rd baseman to hit 20 or more HR in consecutive seasons since 1997-2001 (Scott Rolen)... Homered in back-to-back games, 4/11-12 vs NYM... Slugged his 2nd & 3rd career grand slams: 4/12 vs NYM (Hansel Robles) and 4/26 vs MIA (Wei-Yin Chen)... Became the fi rst Phillie in franchise history with two grand slams before the end of April... Tied his career high with 4 hits twice: 6/13 at BOS and 7/14 at MIL... Led the club in HR and RBI.
2016
Led the team in RBI (88) & SLG % (.427) and tied for the team lead in HR (25) & XBH (49)...T-9th in the NL in game-winning RBI (13)...Made 147 starts, all at 3rd base...Was the first Phillies 3rd baseman to hit 25 HR in a season since 2001 (Scott Rolen, 25)...Had his 2nd career multi-HR game, 4/22 at MIL...Homered in 4 straight games, 7/3-6, becoming the first Phillie to do so since 2012 (Ryan Howard)...Batted .306 (30-98), 5 2B, 3 HR, 16 RBI in his final 26 games of the season...The Phillies went 16-8 (.667) when he homered.
2015
Among NL rookies, ranked second in SLG % (.497), fifth in AVG (.280), seventh in doubles (22), T-7th in HR (14), eighth in RBI (50) & OBP (.343), T-8th in three-hit games (5) & HBP (4), T-9th in multi-hit games (26) and 10th in XBH (37)...Began the season with Lehigh Valley (AAA) and played in 33 games before being recalled on 5/15...At the time of his promotion, was leading the International League in hits, RBI, doubles, XBH (17) & total bases (76) and ranked second in AVG and 4th in SLG %...Had a 10-game hitting streak with the IronPigs at the time of his promotion (.463, 19-41, 2 2B, 3 HR, 13 RBI)...Slugged his first ML triple and HR, 5/17 vs ARI, making him the first Phillie to collect both in the same game since Rick Schu on 9/2/84 vs SF...Became the first rookie with a game-tying or go-ahead home run in the eighth inning or later of back-to-back games, 6/2-3, since MIN's Bobby Kielty in 2002...Had a career-best 11-game hitting streak, 6/2-13 (.432, 19-44, 6 2B, 4 HR, 8 RBI, .841 SLG %)...Was the first Phillies rookie to hit 10 HR in his first 37 games of a season since 1931 (Buzz Arlett - 33 G)...Collected five RBI, 6/22 at NYY, which were the most by a Phillies rookie in a single game since Ryan Howard, 8/10/05 at LAD...Became the youngest Phillie (22 years, 300 days) since 1900 with four hits and two HR in the same game, 6/22 at NYY...Became the first Phillie to post back-to-back five-RBI games since 1920 when the stat first became official, 6/22-23 at NYY; was only the third rookie in ML history with at least five RBI in two straight games...Named NL Rookie of the Month for June: .352 (38-108), 8 2B, 8 HR, 24 RBI, .391 OBP, .648 SLG %; led all NL players in hits (38) during the month...Left the game, 8/11 at ARI, with a left wrist contusion after getting hit by a pitch from Jeremy Hellickson in his first plate appearance...Was placed on the DL on 8/18 (broken left wrist); activated on 10/1...The Phillies went 9-4 (.692) when he homered...40.0 % (37 of 85) of his ML hits were for extra bases (22 2B, 3B, 14 HR)...Named the 3rd-best prospect in the International League by Baseball America following the season...Played in 21 games for Cibao in the Dominican Winter League (.234, 2 2B, 3 HR, 10 RBI, 13 BB)
2014
Played the entire minor league season with Lehigh Valley (AAA) before having his contract selected on 9/2... Named IronPigs Player of the Year... Finished third in the International League in RBI (78), T-4th in games (133), 5th in total bases (223) & at-bats (521), T-6th in doubles (33) and T-10th in hits (134)... Was the youngest position player selected to the All-Star Futures Game at Target Field, his second consecutive selection... Slugged a 2-out, walk-off HR, 8/17 vs Buffalo... Had four HR over a 5-game span, 8/22-26 (.526, 10-19, 2 2B, 3B, 4 HR, 10 RBI, 7 R)... Hit for the cycle, 8/24 vs Syracuse; the second cycle in Lehigh Valley history (Michael Taylor - 2009)... Hit a grand slam, 8/26 vs Syracuse, on his 22nd birthday... From July 2 through the end of the minor league season, batted .324 (70-216), 11 HR, 47 RBI, leading the IL in RBI in that span... Had his contract selected on 9/2; made his ML debut that night at ATL and got his first ML RBI (SF)... Collected his first ML hit, 9/5 at WSH (single off Stephen Strasburg)... Made 14 starts for the Phillies: 12 at third base and two at first base... Following the season, was named the third-best prospect in the Phillies minor league system by Baseball America... Played for Cibao of the Dominican Winter League (.272, 8 2B, 7 HR, 29 RBI, .335 OBP, .469 SLG %)
2013
Was the Paul Owens Award winner as the best player in the Phillies minor league system...Led all of Minor League Baseball in total bases (308) while finishing T-2nd in XBH (70), 4th in hits, T-7th in HR (31) and T-8th in RBI (103)...Also led all Phillies minor leaguers in AVG (.320), HR and RBI...Began season with Clearwater (A)...Hit 2 HR with a professional-high 7 RBI, 4/26 vs Tampa...Selected as a Florida State League midseason All-Star...Named Phillies Minor League Player of the Month for June (.404 AVG, 3 2B, 10 HR, 26 RBI) and Phillies Minor League Player of the Week twice (5/13-19 & 6/17-23)...Selected to the World roster for MLB Futures Game at Citi Field...Promoted to Reading (AA) on 6/20...Had an 18-game hitting streak between both levels, 6/9-30 (.446, 33-74)...Played in 8 games at 1st base in August...Following the season, was named the top prospect in the Phillies minor league system by Baseball America...Played for Cibao of the Dominican Winter League (.226, 8 2B, 3 HR, 14 RBI, 47 G).
2012
Spent the entire season with Lakewood (A)...Ranked 2nd in the South Atlantic League in AB (503),
3rd in games (132), T-4th in RBI (84), 5th in hits (141) and 6th in total bases (221)...Had a season-high 5 RBI twice: 7/11 vs Hickory & 8/17 at Greensboro...Named Phillies Minor League Player of the Week, 8/27-9/5 (.556, 3 2B, 5 RBI)...Batted .207 (49-237) over 64 games in the 1st half of the season and .346 (92-266) over 68 games in the 2nd half...Following the season, was named the 8th-best prospect in the Phillies minor league system by Baseball America...Appeared in 1 game for Gigantes del Cibao in the Dominican Winter League.
2011
Spent the majority of season with Williamsport (A)...Batted .412 (28-68) with RISP in 54 games for the
Crosscutters...Appeared in 17 games with Lakewood, 8/2-23..Following the season, was named 10th-best prospect in Phillies minor league system by Baseball America.
2010
Began his pro career with the Gulf Coast League Phillies (R)...Participated in Florida Instructional League.
