BALTIMORE — What’s going on with Wander Franco?

The Rays phenom was unavailable most of this weekend in Baltimore, appearing only as a pinch-hitter during Sunday’s 7-6, 11-inning loss at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. His absence comes amid nagging injuries and Franco’s first extended slump since his first month in the Majors in 2021, and since he signed an 11-year, $182 million extension this winter.

“I feel much better, thank God,” Franco said through team interpreter Manny Navarro. “I am doing everything I can to get back as soon as I can.”

Here is everything you need to know about Franco’s situation, and how it affects the Rays:

:

What's going on?
Franco is dealing with several nagging lower-half issues, the most pertinent being the right quad discomfort that popped up late in Friday’s 8-6 13-inning loss to the Orioles. Attempting to score from second as the automatic runner in the 13th, Franco felt his quad flare up rounding third base. It hindered Franco enough not to slide into home, possibly costing Tampa Bay the pivotal run.

Franco was out of the Rays’ starting lineup Saturday and Sunday, receiving treatment while Taylor Walls started both games at shortstop. The 21-year-old Franco has dealt with left hamstring and quad issues on and off this season, which he and manager Kevin Cash both partly attributed to playing on artificial turf full-time.

“Every part of both legs has bothered him,” Cash said.

“You look at the way he’s built, his body, he’s like a ball of muscle. When you have that much muscle and not really any body fat, you can be prone to some leg injuries.”

What's the prognosis?
The Rays are hopeful that this weekend’s rest combined with Monday’s off-day help Franco avoid the injured list. But that remained a possibility as of Sunday evening, even after Franco appeared as a pinch-hitter in the 10th and struck out. A similar injury to Franco’s right hamstring sidelined him for two weeks down the stretch last September; he returned healthy and hit .314/.351/.457 in eight games to finish the regular season.

“He’s working on it,” said Cash. “I applaud him getting in the trainer’s room, doing the little things, staying hydrated. He’s really taken that to another level, so I’m proud of Wander, and now he just needs to stay at it.”

Has it affected his play?
Describing his injury Sunday morning, Franco said he only feels the injury when attempting to run at full speed, like on the bases Friday night. Combined with the hamstring issues, though, there is evidence to suggest Franco has played all year with his legs at something less than full strength all year.

Both Franco’s sprint speed and bolts (running plays with elite sprint speed) are down this season, according to Statcast. His only bolt of 2022 came on April 8; of Franco’s 13 runs with a sprint speed of 29 or more feet per second, nine came in April.

Franco, sprint speed:
2021: 28.5 ft/second (85th percentile)
2022: 27.9 ft/second (70th percentile)
Change: - 0.6 ft/second (-15 percentile)

Franco, bolts:
2021: 7 of 123 competitive runs (5.7 percent)
2022: 1 of 61 competitive runs (1.6 percent)

He’s also scuffling offensively, mired in a 2-for-35 funk and homerless since April 26, a 22-game span. Franco is still squaring pitches up (57 percentile hard hit rate) and rarely striking out (98th percentile K rate), and his elite .320 expected batting average suggests he has run into a sizable amount of bad luck on balls put in play. But he’s also walking less, seeing fewer pitches per plate appearance and swinging at more first pitches than during his rookie year.

All told, Franco is hitting .261/.290/.412 with four homers and a 114 OPS+ in 38 games.

“I am fairly confident the league has made a little bit of an adjustment,” Cash said, calling Franco’s injury situation unrelated to his scuffles. “He’s probably gotten out of his strengths swinging at some early pitches in the zone, but ultimately there is no concern at the plate for Wander for us.”