Scouting Report, LHP Jeff Francis

The 29-year old lefty out of Canada was a 1st round pick of the Rockies in 2002, and made his debut in 2004. In 2005-2007, he made 30+ starts, including 17-9 in 2007, which got him a 9th place finish in the Cy Young voting. But the injury bug started to catch up with him in 2008, limiting him to 143 innings, and he missed all of 2009. Against the Mets, he's 2-2 with a 5+ ERA, but 3 of the 4 starts were in 2005 and 2006.

Francis is a 3-pitch pitcher, using an 86-88 mph fastball, an above average change-up (78 mph), and a curveball (72 mph). His change up is his best pitch both this year and for his career. He rarely throws his curveball when behind in the count, but will throw it when he's 0-2 or 1-2 on a hitter. He is below league average for swing and miss %, and strikes out only 5.6 per 9, but minimizes walks (< 2 W/9). He's limited home runs this year (6 in 86 innings). He's a ground-ball pitcher.

This year Francis has made 15 starts (86 2/3 innings), and is 4-4 with a 4.67 ERA and 1.31 WHIP. He's gone 6+ innings in only 8 of his 15 starts, and has allowed 5+ runs in 5 games. His last start vs the Pirates he lasted only 5 2/3 innings, let up 9 hits (2 HRs), and 5 earned runs.

The Mets should be able to score some runs off of Francis in my humble opinion.