Former Mets Relief Pitcher: Frank Francisco (2012-2013)

Franklin Francisco was born on September 11, 1979 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

The six foot two right hander was signed out of high school by the Boston Red Sox in 1996. He suffered an injury soon after & did not pitch again in the minor leagues until 1999.

He spent six years in the minor leagues getting traded to the Chicago White Sox & Texas Rangers organizations. He made his MLB debut in May 2004 & pitched in 45 games of relief, for the Rangers going 5-1 with a 3.33 ERA. An injury had him miss most of the next two seasons.

He would pitch out of the Texas bullpen for four more seasons (2007-1010) earning the closer role in 2009 when he saved 25 games (tenth in the AL) & finished 42 games (also tenth in the AL).

In the 2010 Rangers A.L. Championship season, he lost the closer position to Neftali Feliz, but still went 6-4 with two saves, before going down with injury at the end of August. He missed the post season & in January was traded the Toronto Blue Jays for Mike Napoli.

In Toronto he saved 17 games, sharing the closer role, with Jon Rauch (11 saves), who both would end up on the Mets the next year. After being granted free agency he signed a two year deal with the New York Mets. He was named the teams closer out of Spring Training & earned his first save on Opening Day in a 1-0 win over the Atlanta Braves. Francisco earned three saves in the first three games of the year, getting off to a good start.

By mid May, he had nine saves but his ERA was up near nine & he suffered two losses. On May 13th he got ejected from a game at Marlins Park, in Miami after he had an outburst toward the home plate umpire.

From there he finished the month with five straight saves & saved nine of ten games. On June 22nd, he earned a save in the subway series, but felt soreness in his oblique muscle & went on the DL missing two months of action.

Upon his return he notched two more saves, reaching twenty for the season. On August 22nd, he gave up two runs to the Colorado Rockies & threw a fit in the dugout tossing a water cooler. Francisco ended the year at 1-3 with 23 saves, posting a 5.53 ERA. He struck out 47 batters & walked 21 in 42 innings of work in 48 games. Bobby Parnell who would earn the closer spot in 2013 saved 13 games, Jon Rauch four games & Ramon Ramirez one game.

In December he had surgery to remove bone spurs from his right elbow. He was not ready for the season & in May he was placed on the sixty day disabled list to make room for Omar Quintanilla. He didn't begin throwing again until the end of August. 

Francisco appeared in his first Mets game on September 8th 2013 pitching 0.2 innings against the Cleveland Indians in a 2-1 Mets win. In the top of the 9th when Eric Young drove in Matt den Dekker with the game winning run, Francisco earned the win. He would pitch in eight games for the Mets that September posting a 4.26 ERA. He was another failure during this era of Mets history.

He was let go free agency getting singed by the Chicago White Sox pitching in just four games, but was then released. He then signed with the Toronto Blue Jays but was released in early July 2014.


In his ten year career, he is 20-22 with 73 saves & 185 games finished. He struck out 426 batters & walked 172 in 386 innings in 391 appearances.