Maikel Franco's bat may be heating up as he moves to cleanup spot

With Ryan Mountcastle among several Orioles scuffling at bat, manager Brandon Hyde dropped him down to sixth in the batting order and moved third baseman Maikel Franco up to the No. 4 spot. Franco will bat cleanup tonight at Camden Yards as the O's and Seattle play the series opener of a four-game set.

It will be somewhat familiar territory for Franco. In 117 career games and 486 plate appearances batting fourth, he has hit .248/.302/.395/.698 with 17 homers and 73 RBIs. The only spots he has batted more often at are third (669 plate appearances) and sixth (496 plate appearances).

Franco's bat may be coming around after he hit a three-run homer and drove in four runs on Sunday. It was his 16th career game with at least four RBIs and first since Sept. 10, 2020 against Cleveland. He was hitting .179 at gametime Saturday, but has gone 3-for-7 with a homer, five RBIs and three walks in his last two games.

Franco has been working on his plate discipline and is a rare Oriole with few strikeouts through nine games. He has walked five times and struck out five as well. For his career, he is not a big strikeout guy with a K rate last year of 15.6 percent and it's 15.3 for his career. But he's walking more early on in 2021: a 12.5 percent walk rate now, compared to his career mark of 6.9.

"I mean, no question, man," Franco said via Zoom this afternoon. "It is part of my plan this year. Try to be more tough at home plate. Make pitchers work harder with me. I just try to be aggressive in my zone. So, at the end of the day, it's about taking good pitches to hit. If they don't want to pitch to me, I just try to take my walks. Try to be tough, compete and have nice at-bats. That's what I'm looking for so far, trying to get on base more and try to take more walks. Have more good swings rather than swinging at bad pitches. Have to work on that every single day."

On Sunday, Franco was robbed of a hit in the second inning, when he lined into a 5-3 double play. He produced an RBI single to center in the fourth and hit a 405-foot, three-run homer in the sixth. He hit that 111 mph off the bat and hit it against a former Phillies teammate in Boston right-hander Nick Pivetta.

"We talked before a little bit and I tried to make my adjustments," Franco said. "I know he has pretty good stuff and he throws hard. He's got a good breaking ball. Just tried to go out there with my plan. He gave me a couple of pitches to hit and I put a good swing on it. At the end of the day, it's about making my adjustment and be ready every single day.

"The day before he told me, 'I'm going to pitch Sunday, be easy to me.' I just be like, 'Man, just trying to do my best and my job to help my team to win.' We talked a little bit about it."

Franco feels like his bat may have heated up in the last two games of the Boston series.

"I mean, yes, no question. I'm seeing the pitches really well," he said. "And like I said, I'm going out there and trying not to do too much. When I have my patience, I try not to do much and try to see the ball well. That is the way I feel like I have to get it going. See good pitches to hit. Even the walk, it helped me a lot. When I know I take a close pitch, a slider away or fastball in for a ball, I know I am seeing it and it makes me feel better and keep it going."

Franco didn't sign with the Orioles until March 16, so he is still settling in with his new club.

"It's been a little bit difficult but now I'm getting used to it," he said. "I know everybody and I feel like I've been on this team for long and I'm meeting a lot of people and making good friends here. So everything has been good so far."

Now he and his teammates need to get back in the win column after falling to 4-5 and getting swept by the Red Sox.

"I mean, we will try to do everything as a team. Try to be together. I know it's been a little bit frustrating, but at the end of the day you have to turn the page and try to be ready for the next game," said Franco. "Today we face Seattle and we have to come in today and show a lot of energy and do everything you can do to get better and try to win a ballgame."