FSL Offensive Prospects of The Week: Charlotte’s Wander Franco & Tampa’s Pablo Olivares

The Charlotte Stone Crabs have been on a tear the second half of the season as they lead the South Division with a 9-3 record and in their last 10 games they are also 8-2.

The Tampa Bay Rays #1 Prospect Wander Franco joined the club after starting the season with the Bowling Green Hot Rods. In 62 games with the Class-A Full Season squad, he batted .318, 16 doubles, five triples, six home runs and 29 RBIs.

On June 25th, the top prospect made his presence known in a big way, finished 2 for 3, with a walk and stolen base.

The next night, Franco went 3 for 4, with a double, and two RBIs. The hits kept coming on June 27th, she he launched his first Stone Crabs home run, finishing 2 for 5, and two RBIs. On June 28th, Franco continued his hot hitting, with his second home run in as many days, scoring two runs, and walking twice.

Franco’s week ended on Saturday, going 1 for 3, with a run scored, an RBI and a walk. The Dominican Native has been a big reason for the Stone Crabs current six game winning streak.

Over the past week, he is batting .555 (10 for 18), with four runs scored, a double, two home runs, six RBIs and three walks.

Tampa Tarpons Pablo Olivares.

It was hard just picking one prospect this week, as Franco was not the only player with a big week.

The Tampa Tarpons Pablo Olivares is not a highly touted prospect on the New York Yankees farm system, but you would not know it with the number she put up over the past week.

From June 25th to June 30th, Olivares batted .611 (11 for 18), with three runs scored, a double, triple, and four RBIs. In that span, the Venezuelan native hit safely in all six games he played in, with mutli-hit games from June 25th to June 28, recording back to back three-hit games in June 27th and 28th.

Olivares has shown signs of breaking out all season, but this past week he has just been on fire and over his last 10 games, he is batting .405 (15 for 37).

Congrats to both Wander Franco and Pablo Olivares for being named our Florida State League Offensive Prospects of the Week.

David Conde

David is the Co-Founder and Executive Editor of Legends On Deck®, as well as a Co-Host on Legends On Deck Podcast. David was a Senior Editor for MetsMerizedOnline.com, MetsMinors.net and Contributor for Hardballchat.com that spanned from 2010 to 2014. David made his MLB Debut as a writer in June 2014, while covering the NY Mets at Citi Field, for MetsmerizedOnline.com. David also coaches baseball for ages 13-15, a Babe Ruth League team in his local community. David's passion is coaching the game he loves to the future Legends of Tomorrow as well as making available a website that people can have fun sharing and reading. David is also passionate about his career as a Mortgage Loan Officer which allows him to help many families reach their dreams of owning a home. Connect with David via his Social Media pages as he loves to chat all about baseball.