Franco has been working hard to incorporate Stairs' teaching, but it's a work in progress, he's being more patient and taking the ball to RF more often, but he regresses back to pull/kill mode and gets out of control.
You see the same with Galvis, had a nice run, then a week when he was trying to elevate the ball and popping up, then back to hitting iine drives.
It takes time to incorporate new stances, new approaches, some like Herrera probably aren't teachable (hopefully he can learn to lay off pitches out of the zone, but his mechanics are pretty much unfixable).
Williams is definitely a better hitter than last year or before, he's actually working counts, gets too aggressive at times, but is learning how to hit, give Stairs a year with him and he could be special.
It's frustrating, Joseph drives me crazy, then I remember he missed three minor league seasons. Perkins finally learned patience at Lehigh, then lost it when promoted, but is it just nerves?
But with Franco and Herrera hitting, Hernandez leading off, this is a pretty good lineup that will be very good when Altherr returns.
Someone described WIlliams as a LH version of Altherr, long lean athletic body, but I think WIlliams is a more natural hitter, though not as instinctive defensively.
But a Williams - Herrera - Altherr OF is not going to let a lot of balls touch the turf, and can generate some offense.
Given they can field a young, talented team right now, albiet with growing pains, the flood of AA and AAA talent the next two years are going to provide some juicy trade possibilities for Klentak, but no rush, we're not dealing with aging vets with an expiration date. A little competition never hurts.