Intro Bowen Francis might be the best pitcher on the Toronto Blue Jays you are locked on Blue Jays your daily Toronto Blue Jays podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day back to lock on Blue JS thank you for making locked on Blue Jays your first lesson every day we are free and available wherever get your podcast and on YouTube or locked on podcast Network your team every day this episode is brought to you by prize piix go to priz picks.com locked on MLB and use code all lowercase locked on MLB to win $50 instantly when you play $5 welcome back as always I'm Braden Wasco he's Carter first you can find us on Twitter Braden fby Wasco Carter first too as well on Instagram and Tik Tok at lockon Blue Jays as well if you're new here on YouTube make sure you drop and hit that subscribe button it really helps us out you can hit that little bell notific too so you get updated whenever a video goes live we really need want those subscribers we're getting close to that 1600 mark and it would it's greatly appreciated you know it's it's sort of the dog days of the season and uh really does help us out and it keeps us top of your page make sure you guys hit that subscribe button if you're listening on YouTube uh some stuff to talk about today a big episode coming tomorrow talking about the bullpen breaking things down so make sure you guys tune in for that one what will it look like 20 in 2025 how many upgradeable pieces will there need to be but Carter today we're talking about Bowden Francis Is Elite Bowen Francis what a game from him we'll go over the game and then a couple updates on some young stars from the Toronto Blue Jays in the third second so make sure you guys are tuning in and staying for that Carter what a day from B Francis my man e this guy just continues to go out and be a dog he clearly wants to be a starting pitcher in the rotation for uh the full season in 2025 this guy that's uh kind of been thrown all over the place okay came out uh for relief uh opportunities in 2023 again has been a triple A has started for the Blue Jays has come in for long relief has come in in some higher leverage situations really a guy that's done it all so it's uh a guy that I have been uh very high on again I I know a little bit about toron WS baseball but I also have my fair share of takes that have not panned out very well my Kevin Gosman uh being top 10 in sa young voting not quite there Carter first but uh anyway back to uh back to the man of the hour this guy uh like Chris Basset said earlier on in the season he has the makings that can become an ace for your Toronto Blue Jays and just looking at his stat line today eight Innings pitched no hits given up throughout those eight Innings until the ninth inning uh the kind of the same outcome unfortunately as the Los Angeles Angel start eight Innings of no hits an unbelievable start a little bit less pitches thrown in this had a very good eighth inning about Francis only throwing six uh pitches in that inning but uh the the Home Run leading off the ninth inning Taylor Ward being Los Angeles Angels this one being friends Isco Lindor so we're going to get into the B Francis the game more so of the game stuff obviously in the second segment I just wanted to start off with how good B Francis has been so there's one major switch if you've been watching CH Lu J baseball that b Francis has made that hasn't just been a light switch but it's been a work in progress and he's really seen it come through fruition here in the back half of the season and that's him adding his splitter B Francis used to be just the the curveball slider fastball guy uh this fastball was starting to get hit around a little bit people were starting to sit on it as one of those harder pitches nothing to really play off that fast ball decides to start working on a splitter uh thanks to Chris Basset using his splitter grip and boy is this working out very well for bound Francis so his last seven starts has really been when he's starting to been throwing this uh this splitter that I've been talking about here and uh the numbers clearly show that uh it's been working out but before I get into those numbers I just want to see just go over the inconsistent season of B Francis because April 1 guy goes out and on the day of April 1 this guy's ra is 1181 had so many blow up starts in a row like his first couple starts seven earn runs given up five earn runs then two earn runs so this is where the season started for bound Francis and I just want to just kind of put emphasis on how big of a turnaround this was for B Frances over his last seven appearances so bound Francis four- one over those starts that's not really what I'm looking at 1.5 ER 48 Innings pitch 16 hits given up eight earned runs only 46 strikeout and the five walks five walks is a huge thing for bound Francis used to be a command issue and only has Point 044 whip so I compared bound Francis to a lot of these other pitchers but uh we'll get into that after I kind of give you a chance to uh just say how good bound Francis has been these are the numbers of an ace on a starting baseball team on Francis over these last seven starts has easily been the Toronto Blue Jay's best pitcher over these last seven we'll get into more some more stats so back that up after but B Francis Bren uh what are you seeing out there that's getting you fired up about him man he he's been so good I mean you talked about the splitter and and that's the huge key piece for this and it can't be overlooked it can't be talked about enough him adding this pitch has given H his pitching style such depth and I it's obviously working and and I think the other the the only piece that I have to say is is be cautious as B fris you want to take in all the all the you know the the glory that comes with being a great starting pitcher um but but teams will start to figure out that splitter and it's new it's a new pitch teams are going to make adjustments right we talked about this with David Schneider and and his sort of great start and then his you know he sort of came back down to earth that's because teams figured him out and teams will start doing that on B Francis pray you know pray to God they don't but but it is going to happen so great for Bowen Francis as of right now an absolutely electric guy um but but again right when when the league starts to figure him out the big question is probably next season will we see him adjust from what the league is throwing at him and I think that that is going to be the biggest question for bow and Francis sort of moving forward that's again you look at a guy that doesn't have the most service time of all time just added a new pitch obviously uh the MLB takes time to adjust you look at the Davis steer L sanity run you look at a lot of these runs uh early on in a lot of players careers especially with pitchers when you get tape on pitchers it is a lot easier to form an attack strategy that you can Implement throughout the entire lineup so that's going to be a b and France challenge probably not necessarily for the rest of this season but for 2025 and just for his future a guy that hasn't necessarily been consistent enough to be a fullon starting uh pitcher for any MLB team as we've seen so far through b France's career not really finding his footing with the Toronto Blue Jays but this is a huge building piece to put off of and the stuff shows right the stuff is it speaks for itself that brown FR Francis splitter isn't going to get any worse over time knock on wood hopefully you don't anticipate a downfall but he's 27 years old uh the stuff again speaks for steu the slider is moving like crazy the curveball mixed in well if he's having his pitches mixed in well with good command it's it's going to lead to good results it doesn't matter if players know specifically that uh these pitches are coming if they're are executed effectively enough it's not really going to matter you look at Kevin Gosman when he has that fast ball and Splitter on command it's it doesn't matter if you know he's going to throw the splitter in an 02 count it's so hard to lay off of because it looks so good for so long if B Francis can continue to keep hitters off balance and on their toes taking wild swings as the we kind of use the MLB term swing in the garden hose out there had a lot of those swings uh in this last start against uh the New York Mets but again you look future you need your uh you're starting pitching to be consistent for longer than just seven starts this has been a great seven game stretch uh and it's proven a lot to a lot Lui fans that he should at least be in the question for the starting pitching role and you're looking into 2025 I think you'd be absolutely crazy if you don't have B Francis right now in that starting pitching rotation but there's kind of a separate argument that I wanted to get into so you look at B Francis and again you never don't necessarily have the career accolades you don't have that seven years of pedigree 10 years whatever it is of consistency from B Francis but you look at how this guy's been carrying himself and you look at the how he's pitched over the season so his season stats are he has 35 ra 92.2 Innings pitched 82 strikeouts a 0.93 whip this erra is the best out of all pitchers on the Toronto Blue Jays like it's you look at it over a season long period of time again the sample Siz are a little bit smaller because bound Francis hasn't been starting over this full time this guy is putting up numbers as good as some of the veterans that we have said multiple times that we're not necessarily worried about going into next season and you look at a lot of these stats over these seven games again this is a little bit of an unfair comparison because B France is playing the best base of his life you could say and you can't necessarily say the same things about um Kevin gosin Chris basted and Jose Brios but you look at these stats erra uh Innings pitched uh strikeouts is I think the only one he was second on over the last seven games I think Chris bass's got him beat on that one walks earned runs all these important stats down Francis has been the best pitcher over the last month on the Toronto Blue Jays you look at the August pitcher of the month the biggest question is consistency right now you have a playoff series tomorrow I might have bound Francis over some of the likes of Jose Brios Kevin gosin and Chris Basset but that's not reality that's not where we are in Tron blue J baseball if this guy can prove a little bit of consistency continues to pitch effectively throughout spring training I think you got to have this guy at minimum as your fourth starting rotation guy and maybe can work his way up uh maybe to see a playoff appearance for this 2025 ton Blue Jays and that's what you got to hope for right it's just building upon the stuff coming out of this year we talk about this all the time it's finding your game in the last little bit of this season to be able to carry over into 202 2 five with confidence confidence for baseball players we always talk about is one of the biggest components to their game and Bowen Francis looks like he's going to be carrying over a lot of confidence so great for him we we wanted to sort of focus in on bow and Fran because he's been so amazing uh but Carter there's a lot more that happened during this baseball game that we need to talk about we're going to take a quick break we'll be right back with way more uh from this game against the Mets today's episode is sponsored by prize pick prize piix is the largest daily fantasy sports platform in North America they are the easiest and most exciting way to play fantasy sports because it's just you against the numbers instead of battling thousands of other players including pros and sharks you can pick more than or less than on two to six player stat projections and watch the winnings roll in prize picks is very simple to play I can make my picks and submit my entries in as little as 60 seconds so obviously there's no Toronto Blue Jays game uh the day that this episode is coming out but the Tron Lu J season is coming to an end so I'm just gonna let kind of let you guys know what I place my picks on when the Tron L Jays aren't playing baseball so I like obviously I'm a big NFL guy I go receiving yards passing yards rushing yards yards is usually a big thing you go more than or less than you can go touchdowns that's usually at 0 five and then I also like to go in the NHL there shots on goal you can do hits you can do goals you can do points you can do so many different things I encourage you guys to check out all the different uh attributes on prize picks perfect opportunity to get into the unique side of sports and uh bet on some things that uh maybe aren't advertised by the common sports book so you can download the app today and use code locked on MLB for first posit match up to $100 that's code locked on MLB for first closet match up to $100 prize pick run your game today's episode's brought to you by FanDuel you guys all know we talk about FanDuel all the time America's number one Sportsbook well we have something a little different for you now through September 22nd all FanDuel customers can bet five 5 and get a three-week free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV then with your YouTube TV base plan you'll be able to watch every regular season Sunday afternoon out of Market game all you need is Google account in a current form of payment and you can cancel any time we talk about this me and Carter big football fans we locked into fantasy and we we try to watch every game or a lot of the games anyway so uh we're going to be you know taking advantage of this offer and hopefully you guys will as well FanDuel America's number one sports A New Way To Lose book so Carter getting into the game we sort of went over bow Francis and his electric start today let's sort of go through it a little bit because there was a nice play by David Schneider to sort of keep the keep the the no hitter alive um makes a nice little jumping catch at at the wall there I know you you wanted to give me some grief for putting him as the DH and and not as the left fielder um but what great play from him yeah he looks like a natural out there and it's a guy that literally has not played any Outfield like throughout his baseball career and you slot him in there kind of halfway through the season and he looks like a natural out there again I said that he's maybe not going to make the flashiest plays maybe I'm wrong about that as well maybe David Schneider isn't above average outfielder this was a very nice play to keep the no hitter intact that b Francis did have at that time again just timed it very well jumped at the perfect time embraced uh for impact on the wall held the catch in and that's that's what you want from a guy like David Schneider uh if you can again with the DH thing it wasn't necessarily a shot at David Schneider per se but he gives you more value in the Outfield if you can play a guy in multiple different spots and he can be effective there why would you want to stick him at DH just doesn't make a lot of sense especially when you have some guys that aren't necessarily as defensively inclined as uh David Schneider so with him yeah just another great catch and again gotta pump my boy Bal Francis tires just a little bit more for this episode he was pitching a no hitter into the n inning even though his fastball V was almost 2 and a half miles per hour down so he normally sits at 93.1 today it was at 90.8 and this all comes with the command you look at a guy like hin Ru when he was here guy like Marco Estrada the Marcus strowman kind of aspect these guys aren't fireballers they're not necessarily blowing the uh the wind off our sales with the the numbers on the uh on the dial on the radar gun but they are commanding pitches they are painting corners and they're really artists of the game look at Bal Francis and you look at the the one thing I thought was interesting too is you look at the start against the angels that he carried the no bit hit bid into the ninth inning look at this start he had 12 strikeouts in that Los Angeles Angeles game you have one strikeout in this Mets game so again he wasn't blowing pitches by anyone he was getting really off-balance swings people were out way in front of the slider curveball splitter or just way late on the fast ball you saw Nathan Lucas seven put outs in right field So that obviously explains how bound Francis was keeping hitters timing off pace and just a great start from the guy exactly what you want but okay so that's that's the eight Innings that's all I got from the eight Innings uh you get David Schneider I guess nice RBI way to rip down the uh the first base line make sure that's not a double play get to the ninth inning so I've said on this podcast so many times that baseball games don't matter I'm not as mad when Turnal lui's lose let's let's recap the losses that we've had in the last little bit here you get the Atlanta Braves defensive meltdown as in Barger just throws the ball in the Narnia you score there you get the New York Mets one more defensive misplays not a very good team game you lose game one of the series and then you get this game another defensive misc but then you get Chad green the blow up Start From Hell just walking the entire house not having very competitive B bats and then obviously the bound Francis moonball will and door didn't help as well but man how like this is starting I'm starting to get more emotional about the toron bluei again because they're losing in just the craziest ways of all time it's it's frustrating to lose a baseball game I don't care I tweeted this as well we could beat a million games out of the playoff race million games out of the playoffs not playing that we could be playing a uh a little league team for all I care if you're up at in any capacity in the ninth inning and you end up somehow losing the game by four runs that is an embarrassment to your baseball team yeah dude it's it is for us trading like I I was watching this game and I was so pumped because bow Francis oh my goodness almost the perfect game or uh no hitter and then I go and look and it's over like I I was so pumped so ready to rock and sort of I was at the point where I was you know sort of getting bored it was very very low energy game outside of Bowen Francis and then all of a sudden it goes down the well and that's is what it is and it is frustrating it's it's frustrating when games are in reach and your baseball team still can't win you have it you think you have it you get an absolutely unbelievable electric start from B France and you can't even get him the win it's it's just so so frustrating and and like you said you talk about how you know yes we're so far of it we shouldn't care but you know we're still watching I don't think at any point in any you know fan base any anytime you want to see your team lose yes it might help you statistically for a draft pick or whatever but at the end of the day I I don't care I'm still mad there if if it's not sh Otani is the next Prospect I don't care like I I just want to see some wins that's it it is frustrating Chad green looked hor I mean it was just oh dude I don't know it's a throwaway after bow Francis this low command three walks you're given Mets players uh free base runners especially when they have some of the play for you saw how awaited their bench got when Lindor hit that home run because they are battling the Braves for a wild card spot so that's uh that's something that tr's fans unfortunately don't going to Tastee this year just meaningful baseball at this time but when we say meaningful baseball I want to preface this as well we don't mean that these games don't matter at all for the Player Development for player stat like that they obviously just don't mean anything for the standings and the Toronto Blue J's 2024 season because we can't go anywhere no matter how the games end up but if Vladimir gr Jr Goes 0 for 50 to end the season that is going to be a meaningful thing to look into for 2025 I don't even want to wish that upon him I want all the best for Vladimir Gro Jr but there is still meaningful baseball there you still want uh people to have good outings again Chad Green's had a very good season not necessarily worried about him in the long run but boy was this ever a stinker from Chad green just no location with the fast ball again a lot of pitches over the middle and then uh a lot of pitches that just weren't competitive pitches obviously leading to those walks then Henny C comes in one pitch that's just sent to the Moon by Alvarez at that point it took a lot out of me not to turn that baseball game off I knew the Blue Jays were done but I did end up finishing it out not to much avail yet as in Barger single I guess that's cool and drive in another run to make it a very close game of six to2 yeah it's it's an terrible loss an absolutely terrible loss and just a very tough one to stack on to uh just the uh the embarrassing losses that we've had uh in the last couple of days here but uh kind of going away from sh Blue Jay's baseball a little bit here uh we saw the Mets obviously come into town uh the Braves as well from your just uh Viewpoint again being uh an AL East team not really seeing the Braves and the Mets do you have a favorite to uh make the playoffs here do you care which one does maybe just a little bit of bias you might like one team better than the other maybe a skill position what what are you seeing from these two teams yeah for who's making the uh the playoffs as well yeah do I care who makes the playoffs no um I you know what I think the Braves are a much better team I know that they were having injury troubles when they came to Toronto but I think they're a much better team I I really am not on the Mets hype train right now I think they're fine uh do I think they're going to blow anybody out of the water and even win a series in the playoffs if they make it probably not um to me they're fine again that's a lot coming from me a tonal Blue Jays fan but at the end of today no the the Braves are a much better team and we'll see what happens again be you know because they play a lot of other teams and and you got to see what happens there uh you know I'm not sure what their schedules necessarily look like um but yeah I think the Braves are a better team at the end of the day who who do I want if I have to pick one I'm probably still going the Braves I like the Braves um and I'm not a huge Mets guy so whatever take that as you will how about yourself you got a you got a favorite uh I I would rather see the Mets in the playoffs probably uh sha manah just all of a sudden is just like the second coming of Christ for some reason I think since the All-Star break this guy has the lowest uh opponent average so uh just congrats to Sharm manah but when you're looking for like the the fire power the Mets you got leor you got Pete Alonzo guys like that but I don't know if you necessarily have the pitching dep from the starting rotation standpoint on the Mets uh you look at uh the Braves obviously you got huge hitters like Michael Harris you got uh Marcelo there Matt olon the Ronald lunia stuff it it really sucks for me schan Bach is having a lot better every year there so a lot better he's a rookie but he's having a very good year there bolstering that stting pitch death depth with that's Strider out I want to see the Mets there but I think the Braves do end up squeaking it out it's just kind of fun to uh just go on two teams that you don't necessarily see a whole lot and don't really have a ton to do with tronto blue jays but I guess for me I guess internally the Mets are a lot closer to Toronto luches team and makeup that we could see in 25 than the lot of Braves are so I think uh subconsciously I do want the Mets to make it around and I can uh maybe just self believe myself and maybe be a little bit delusional about the Toronto L J making a little bit of a playoff run in the 2025 season but other than that from this game uh just yeah Bad Bull pad stuff you hate to see it just another typical TR L Jay's loss they just they love losing in a million different ways they no hitter in the eighth inning and you lose the game by four runs that's that's tronto blue jay's 2024 season wrapped up all in a nice okay for you there yeah dude it's it is frustrating and and you know what it comes at a perfect time because we're about to talk to Bullpen tomorrow and that should be a very interesting episode how many spots will there be available moving forward into 2025 we will discuss it all on tomorrow's EP episode of Locked on Blue Jays we always appreciate you guys uh making us your first listen if you want to find a second listen make sure you go check out locked on MLB with host Paul Sullivan Sully he's got all the the big storylines from the MLB the uh you know sort of League wide so make sure you go check that out uh but we really do appreciate you guys watching uh ours so if again drop a sub if you're if you haven't already we still got a segment to talk about here some young Stars we'll get right into that right away today's episode brought to you by tonel when life gets busy fitting in a workout can be stressful with tonel you can get an efficient workout personalized just for you and are available with the amount of time you have tonel is the world's smartest and most effective strength training system that helps get you stronger powered by AI tonal learns with every rep so it can deliver workouts personalized just for you tonal learns from your movements and provide suggestions a suggested weight recommendations for every move with detailed progress reports they can even create personalized programs and workout suggestions or recommendations based on your individual goals it's just like having a personal trainer at home with you as Tona will optimize every workout just for you you unlike traditional gym equipment tonel uses adaptive digital weight to advance your training Tendencies Right Now tonel is offering our listeners $200 you uh off your tonal purchase with promo code locked on MLB that's tonal.com and use code locked on MLB for2 $200 off your purchase that's tonal.com promo code locked on MLB for $200 off your Prospect Updates And Storylines purchase so Carter we had some young stars to talk about uh I'm going to kick things off with with my guy here Trey yesavage has been added to the MLB's top 100 prospects uh good on him Blue Jay's draft pick uh obviously he's not too too high up in that in that MLB pipeline he is number n 99 uh but it's good to see a blue jay in there hey Carter yeah and I believe that is our only one at this time with Ricky tman Andis not being on there so uh it's nice to see a guy that you draft in the first round uh make in his I guess you could say debut on the MLB top 100 list uh a guy that we're just we're hoping develops we're hoping we could see probably more realistically in 2027 2026 would be amazing but that might again be a little bit uh jump of the gun on that one he looks good at College uh again a guy that's 20 years old a fireballer from the right side very tall guy gets good extension so has the uh the dimensions has has the skill set there it's just whether he can build and work on that obviously something that we're going to be majorly focused on in this off season but focus it on another pitcher that I just wanted to give a quick uh re update on is Jake Bloss and uh unfortunately not the greatest update for Jake Bloss he's had six starts with the Buffalo buys this year four of them have gone exceptionally well and two of them have not gone well at all especially that last one gave up a grand slam over a three ining appearance seven earned runs yeah it's just not going to get it done two strikeouts uh yeah you can't give up grand slams and have a good start in a baseball game Believe It or Not uh got coming to you live from lock down Blue Jays with some big reports there but uh with Jake Bloss again it's these things happen uh it's probably not gonna be pulled up at this point in the season I don't think that's a hot take either you'll see Jake Bloss probably in spring training next season maybe makes an impact on the Toronto Lui starting rotation 2025 hopefully he plays into that impact and it's not something that we have to kind of Rush his development for with injuries stuff like that knocking on wood but you look at right now the starting rotation for the Toronto Blue J is probably the best facet of the team when you're splitting it into like three I guess like very broad spectrums of starting pitching Rel pitching and then just offense or Fielding uh positions so uh yeah the starting pitching if you can get another guy for Bloss that has a little bit of depth there and uh can make an impact 225 I'm I'm not going to hate on that but yeah not not the greatest thing from him unfortunately for uh this most pre uh most recent start but I got another thing on another guy that was uh recently in the top 100 list and that is oralis Martinez uh his suspension technically goes till September 23rd but he still is able to play in the minor leagues 15 days before that so getting that uh much needed playing time after that uh 80-day vacation that uh he decided to take hopefully uh he's having a little bit better of a time uh getting his business taken care of over there you got anything else to add about any other stars any other Blue Jays news that you kind of heard along the grap Vine other than uh just a tough loss for the Mets yeah four errors and four last four games that's including that last one the break series and the that's winning two out of three with uh 13 hits over the the three games so uh congrats to them they need the wins more than we do probably helps both teams better off in the future anyway but uh that's where I'm at with Toronto Blue Jay's baseball on this uh this Wednesday and Thursday as it's coming out yeah dude it's uh it's tough out here you know what the the good thing is that there's never a lack of blue jays news especially if you're talking young Stars stuff like that we know not everybody's completely dialed into these young guys or don't necessarily care right now um but we do because they're the future of this team and we hope to be doing this podcast for a long time coming so you know these are guys we might see in the future that's why we're sort of keeping a little bit of an eye on them and and giving you guys an update when we can or or when we hear something interesting uh so uh yeah I guess as we continue Carter here sort of into tomorrow we got a big uh big episode coming out and we'll get into obviously the series preview tomorrow everything like that so it's going to be a fun one uh we already got it all planned out so we'll have that one to you guys early tomorrow as well uh but besides that I mean you know this has sort of been a I don't know it feels like it feels like it's been a quick week for me I don't know if you sort of feel the same way but I I don't know I feel like this week is just zoomed by yeah it's fat a little bit with uh Mets baseball I I don't know if that's just because uh we don't see him a whole lot but yeah that three game series flew by obviously as it's coming out it's Thursday that's uh 60% through the week so congratulations to everyone listening to this uh we're we're over the halfway mark so that's awesome uh the only thing else that I have to say is just uh just found Francis lead us to lead us to Glory that's all I got just uh continue to be dominant and uh maybe SP Francis will be the uh the Ace of the rotation and being your pitcher that leads off opening day for your tle blue Jas what a world that would be oh I don't know hot Outro take but watch out for it anyway guys as always thanks for watching make sure you drop that subscription if you haven't already go check out locked on MLB with host Paul celan he covers all the big topics going on in the MLB and make sure you tuned back in tomorrow for the big Bullpen episode