The current line on Christian Franklin isn't pretty, but a lot of this is due to a recent cold spell in which, over his last 44 plate appearances, Franklin has a .091 batting average, a .121 BABIP, and a wRC+ in the negatives. Through his first 54 PAs, however, the outfielder looked like a Statcast darling, with a 141 wRC+ and much-improved exit velocity. It even prompted me to write a full article detailing the improvements.  I think this is just a bad run of games, as Franklin has been successful everywhere he's played prior.

Christian Franklin was a third-round selection back in 2021 out of Arkansas. So far, with the Cubs, he's turned in yeoman work, overshadowed mainly by Owen Caissie and Kevin Alcantara in the outfield. Still, his results have always been there, as he's most recently posted a 134 wRC+ with the Cubs' Double-A affiliate just last year. He's a strong enough defender to play across the outfield, making his numbers a bit more impressive due to his versatility.

One of Franklin's hallmarks is his excellent approach. While he's not entirely immune to strikeouts, such as Nico Hoerner, he has sat around the 20% strikeout-rate territory for much of his career, which is quite good! The knocks on him have always been "does he hit the ball far enough?" and "can he hit the ball in the air often enough?". The hope is that with some recent mechanical changes, the exit velocity and the power he showed off early will re-appear despite the two-plus bad weeks. Franklin will probably play Major League Baseball, but whether he's an organizational depth player, a fourth 4th-outfielder, or a low-end starter will likely depend on the power output and the amount of ground balls he hits.