Rays bench Wander Franco for multiple games

ST. PETERSBURG -- Rays shortstop Wander Franco has been benched for at least two games for disciplinary reasons.

Franco was not in the lineup for the Rays’ series opener against the Royals at Tropicana Field on Thursday night, coincidentally the two-year anniversary of the former top prospect’s Major League debut, and did not play in Tampa Bay’s 11-3 win over Kansas City on Friday night.

“Wander is a really good kid, really good person. 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,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said Thursday afternoon. “Over the course of this season, there's 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.”

Cash declined to get into further specifics regarding the decision, adding, “I’d like to leave it at what I said.”

Franco was at Tropicana Field on Thursday but left the ballpark well before the game and did not speak to reporters. He returned to the Rays’ dugout and chatted with teammates during Friday’s game, seemingly an encouraging sign, and he could be back in the lineup as soon as Saturday afternoon. The club has not yet confirmed when Franco will get back on the field.

The discipline handed down by the organization on Thursday was not the result of one specific incident, but rather a series of them. While he’s been arguably the best position player in the Majors this season, the 22-year-old star has been more demonstrative than ever with his frustrations on the field and in the dugout.

“We're going to continue to support Wander as he works through this. I'm personally going to. This organization will. This staff will,” Cash said. “We know that he's a really good kid and look forward to having him back.”

There have been times this season when Franco has not hustled on the bases, instead slamming his bat or carrying it with him to first then continuing to react angrily in the dugout. In Tuesday night’s 8-6 loss to the Orioles, for instance, he hit a high popup with two outs that landed inside the left-field line for an RBI hit -- but he only reached first base.

Franco has made it more obvious this season when he disagrees with called strikes. He got into a heated argument in the dugout last month with teammate Randy Arozarena. He made two errors on a key play in the third inning of Sunday’s 5-4 loss to the Padres, allowing two runs to score, and declined to speak to the media afterward.

There is also bound to be more scrutiny on Franco, given his fame in baseball circles since he was a young teenager, his former top prospect status and the $182 million contract extension he signed with the Rays in November 2021. Even his now-famous “ball flip” at shortstop earlier this season sparked a significant amount of conversation, with Cash appreciating the play the next day by noting he “can’t relate to the amount of confidence that Wander plays with. It’s pretty special.”

Franco’s 3.8 WAR (per Baseball Reference) ranks second among all Major League hitters, behind only Angels two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani. The Rays' switch-hitter has bounced back from an injury-riddled 2022 campaign to hit .287/.349/.455 with eight home runs, 34 RBIs and 24 steals while being tied for first among all infielders with 10 outs above average for the best-in-baseball Rays.