After making the final out of Thursday's loss to the Phillies, Jeff Francoeur was sent down to Double-A Mississippi. According to Bill Shanks of TheBravesShow.com, the Atlanta Braves sent down Francoeur to the Minors following Thursday's game. Shanks, host of The Braves Show on 680 the Fan in Atlanta and The Bill Shanks Show on 105.5 the Fan in Macon, reported the story on Scout.com's Atlanta Braves website about an hour ago.
No official announcement has come from the team at this point but the Shanks' report follows an MLB.com report on Wednesday which stated team officials had confirmed there was discussion of moving Francoeur to the Minors to work on finding his swing.
One of the major concerns cited by Braves' officials about making the move was fan reaction but Francoeur heard boos from the Turner Field crowd following at-bats on Wednesday and Thursday and finished the series with the Phillies 1-for-12. In that series, the Braves were swept by the Phillies in Atlanta for the second time this season.
Francoeur's average fell to .234 following his 0-for-4 on Thursday and he had just eight home runs and 41 RBI in 85 games. In 2006 and 2007, Francoeur hit 29 and 19 home runs and notched 103 and 105 RBI respectively following 70 games in his rookie season in 2005 where he hit .300 with 14 homers and 45 RBI.
A late move heading into a holiday weekend such as this would temper fan response so the timing of the move makes sense based on previous concerns surrounding fan reaction. More to come as BDD seeks confirmation of this report.
UPDATE: The official announcement was made by the Braves this morning that Jeff Francoeur was sent down to Double-A Mississippi.