By Tim Kelly, Sports Talk Philly editor 
A season ago, Philadelphia Phillies third baseman Maikel Franco appeared prime for a breakout season, after an extremely impressive 80-game stint in 2015 and a nine home run Spring Training. Charlie Manuel, the winningest manager in club history, went as far as saying Franco could 'definitely' have a 30 home run, 100 RBI season.
Instead of a breakout season, Franco regressed in some aspects, slashing .255/.306/.427, a year after slashing .280/.343/.497 in nearly half of a season. He did hit 25 home runs and drive in 88 runs, but didn't seem disciplined in his swing and despite demonstrating the ability to do it on a few instances, he never seemed comfortable hitting balls to the opposite field.
The Phillies fired former hitting coach Steve Henderson within hours of the season ending, and inserted former playoff hero Matt Stairs into the role, after he spent much of the 2016 season pointing out the aforementioned holes in Franco's game as a broadcaster.
It's hard to determine exactly what statistical success for Franco would look like in 2017, but an increased home run total would probably go hand-in-hand with fixing some of his bad habits. We asked a few of our Sports Talk Philly staffers how many home runs they think Franco will hit in 2017, and set the over/under at 30. Here's how they responded:
Jesse Larch, Sports Talk Philly Staff Writer
Over/Under: Over
I think Franco will finish over 30 home runs. I see the emergence of Tommy Joseph (HR/15 at-bats last season) and the additions of Kendrick and Saunders as protection in the lineup as major reasons why this will happen.
