Breakout Toronto Blue Jays Pitcher Bowden Francis On Pace to Set MLB Record

Bowden Francis has given the Toronto Blue Jays quality start after quality start in the second half of the 2024 season, even dominating batters who managed to make contact with his stuff.

Aug 18, 2024; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Bowden Francis (44) delivers against the Chicago Cubs during the first inning at Wrigley Field. | Matt Marton-Imagn Images

Much has been made of Bowden Francis' emergence as an elite arm for the Toronto Blue Jays, which is well-warrented considering he is on the precipice of making history.

Francis, 28, entered 2024 as a fringe member of Toronto's starting rotation. After two bad outings, he was bumped to the bullpen, and he spent parts of the next few months on the injured list or in the minor leagues.

Since coming back up for a spot start on July 29, however, Francis has been one of the most dominant pitchers in baseball.

The reigning AL Pitcher of the Month is 5-2 with a 1.83 ERA, 0.537 WHIP, .127 batting average against, .455 OPS against and 8.0 strikeouts per nine innings over his last nine outings. Francis has notably held opponents to a .120 batting average on balls in play since the All-Star break, taking no-hitters into the ninth inning on both Aug. 24 and Sept. 11.

As pointed out by MLB.com's Mike Petriello, Francis is on pace to put up the lowest second-half BABIP against by any qualified MLB pitcher post-World War II. The current record in that span belongs to Ron Reed, who posted a .161 second-half BABIP against with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1976.

The only other pitcher who has held opposing players to a sub-.180 second-half BABIP in the last 30 seasons is Rob Tejada. While Tejada finished the 2009 season on a high note with the Kansas City Royals, even his .168 second-half BABIP against is 48 points above Francis'.

I'm a huge fan of what we've seen from Bowden Francis.

He's also got the lowest 2nd-half BABIP (min 50 IP) in post-war history. By a LOT. https://t.co/DOC14gNocP

So, maybe keep that one in mind headed into next year. pic.twitter.com/0VU1IXsCiS

— Mike Petriello (@mike_petriello) September 17, 2024

Francis has either two or three starts left to make this season, barring injury, so he still has to keep up this level of production a little longer to actually cement his spot in the history books. The Blue Jays are outside of the AL Wild Card race at 73-77, though, so it remains to be seen how they will weigh pushing Francis down the stretch against keeping their breakout righty fresh for 2025.

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