Player Spotlight – Francis Villaman  

Grad year – 2017

High School – Olympia

FTB – 4th season with FTB

 

I started getting calls in the Fall of 2014 about a player that just moved to Orlando.  Derek Deler Sr (Father of former FTB standout Derek Deler Jr, and, runs all of FTBs tech stuff) was the first to call.  He was family friends with Francis Villaman’s parents.  He told me about a kid that could pick it at the shortstop position, was physical, and had some power.  Anytime you hear someone give a description about a middle of the diamond player that sounds like that, you want to see it immediately.  I want to give credit where it is due, when I first saw Francis, Derek Deler Sr was spot on.  It was apparent that the game was very slow and easy to Francis.  This was fall of his sophomore year, and I remember thinking that someone could have told me he was a senior heading into college.  I would have believed it.  All the physical tools he would need, the last questions were:  If the tools translated to games and how was his work ethic?

Francis is a strongly built 6’ athlete.  He has soft hands, a clean transfer, and very strong arm.  The arm strength produces velocities up to 92 MPH across the infield.  He has the ability to slow the game down on defense as well as anyone in his class.  He has solid range to both the forehand and back hand side, and does a very nice job coming in on slow rollers.  At the plate, Francis has very good hand/wrist strength that allows him to produce good bat speed.  That strength helps him see the ball very deep and use his power to all fields.  Francis has an aggressive approach and looks to attack the baseball.  Having a well-rounded tool set, Francis showed he could easily translate it to the games.  He plays with a very high motor, is constantly communicating, and showed a great aptitude to make adjustments.  He seemed to come up with big hits, late in games, all Summer and Fall.  He is a kid that wants to play; anytime, anywhere!

The understanding that Francis has, of where he is at right now and where he wants to be, clearly motivates him.  He has been told things that he does not do well, and he immediately works to prove people wrong.  This off season he has changed his workouts to maintain strength and get faster, more explosive.  He is a constant worker, you can see the daily work he puts in because he has the drive to be great.

Loud tools, great! Gamer, even better! Great work ethic, GAME CHANGER!