Atlanta-born Jeff Francoeur only spent six of his 13 Major League Baseball seasons playing for the Atlanta Braves. However, with his playing career, coupled with his work as a broadcasting analyst for Braves coverage since his retirement, “Frenchy” has become a significant voice within the franchise.
Tuesday, he used that voice to share his displeasure with the recent drama surrounding Ronald Acuña Jr., Jarred Kelenic, and manager Brian Snitker.
After Kelenic got called out at second base after watching what he thought was a home run hit the wall, Snitker didn’t seem too concerned about the lack of hustle in post-game comments. That irked Acuña, whom Snitker had previously pulled from games over the same issue, and he took to X to voice his displeasure, saying, “If it were me, they would take me out of the game” in a since-deleted post.
In the aftermath, there were calls of a double standard that went so far as to wonder if the fact that Kelenic is white and Acuña is Venezuelan was a factor (Snitker is white).
All of this was too much for Francoeur, who went off on Acuña and those presuming ill-will about Snitker on his radio program.
“There are 26 guys in that locker room that are busting their ass every single day. Every single day,” he said on The Jeff Francoeur Show on the Atlanta Braves Radio Network. “And they are taking crap from, let’s be honest, all of us, all of national media. This team’s a let down. They were the second-best pick to win the World Series and all this. And those guys are trying their butts off every single day. You finally get something going in your direction. And you got a guy who’s supposed to be your teammate, tweeting, probably out in LA, something that is completely meaningless and stupid.
“I actually saw where Ken Rosenthal wrote an article yesterday that I thought was the dumbest article I’ve ever seen. And so let’s get context here first. Anything to do with racism on this, that Brian Snitker has been in baseball 50 years. I saw him weep at Hank Aaron’s funeral, for God’s sake. He was the most influential man in that man’s life. I don’t even want to hear it.
“And you want to go farther with context, Ron Acuña was warned time after time after time. After time. Let’s talk, like, 10 times to run before he ever got yanked. This is the first time Jarred Kelenic has ever done it. Now, real quick, do I think Snit’s answer to it was great? Probably not. Probably not. He probably also didn’t expect after winning two games a row, this is what he was going to be talking about.
“And also, to give you context, Jarred Kelenic was sitting in that man’s office Easter Sunday morning waiting for him for 30 minutes crying and apologizing. So there’s your context on that.
“Number three, Ronald basically buried a teammate. This wouldn’t have been a national story. Y’all probably wouldn’t even talked about it Monday. Okay, right? Let’s be honest. If he did not mention it in a tweet and bring it to the forefront. So not only that, you buried a teammate by tweeting about this.
“And if you all want to even more context, let’s go back to 2019. We all remember when the Marlins hit Ronald about 10 times. You all remember the beanball war? I didn’t see many players out there sticking up for it. Who was the first guy out of the dugout about to rip up? What was that guy’s name. I totally forget his name. But you all remember. Snit was the first one out there. He came onto the field, yelling at that guy to back up his player. And man, how do you forget that so quick in six years that your manager is the one out there.
“And I’ll say this, man, I learned from the best in Bobby Cox. I love that man. And he used to always tell me there’s nobody bigger than the A. And he said, Hank Aaron told him that one time. There’s nobody bigger than the A. And those are two men that I trust. We want a World Series without Ronald. We went to the playoffs with Ronald. You don’t have to have him. You show that it can be.
“And let me say this. Ronald Acuña is the most talented player, probably, to ever wear a Braves uniform. There is no denying that. There’s things he can do that nobody else can do. But the first thing I preach on our podcast, Pure Athlete, is what? Be a good teammate. Be a good teammate. You’re making millions of dollars. You’re getting to play a kid’s game. Be a good teammate and pull for your team.”