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Blue Jays: Bowden Francis looking to get back on track after his strong start to the year
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Photo credit: Kevin Sousa-Imagn Images
Matthew Spagnuolo
May 6, 2025, 11:30 EDTUpdated: May 6, 2025, 11:46 EDT
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Bowden Francis is one of the most intriguing names in the Blue Jays organization from a pitching standpoint. A name that was acquired back in the summer of 2021, along with Trevor Richards from the Milwaukee Brewers, in exchange for Rowdy Tellez. 
Since being acquired, Francis has shown great glimpses of magic as he has had two opportunities to be the first Jay to throw a no-hitter since the legendary Dave Stieb in 1990, taking multiple games late into his respective outings.
However, with Francis comes some unfortunate struggles. After some solid starts in his first five games of the season, his last three are showing signs of concern. He has yet to go beyond the minimum of five innings in each of his last three starts, with manager John Schneider yanking him in the 70-80 pitch range, and his stuff has become quite hittable with opposing teams compiling six-plus hits in all three contests.
Francis also leads the Blue Jays starters in giving up the most home runs (11) across 35 innings of work (the fewest of every starter in the regular rotation), while facing the least amount of batters (149). José Berríos ranks second on the team with six, while reliever Chad Green also has six homers against. 
Not to say that Bowden won’t turn the corner, as he proved to do so last season. He started the year in the rotation and allowed 14 earned runs through three starts, leading to him being moved to the bullpen while also missing some time on the IL. He returned to the rotation after Yusei Kikuchi was traded away and was lights out down the stretch, posting a 1.53 ERA and a 3.42 FIP through his last nine starts.
Granted, Francis being demoted is likely not an option at this time with Max Scherzer’s thumb issue, Jake Bloss’ most recent injury and with the most recent signings of Spencer Turnbull and José Ureña occupying the fifth rotation spot with Scherzer not eligible to return until the end of the month. Ureña gets the nod first, who starts tonight, while Turnbull gets up to speed.
His splitter went from being a pitch that opposing batters were unable to muster any hits off of (.190 xBA and a .259 xSLG) to now slugging .647 off the pitch with a .320 xBA. Francis got up to 70+ pitches in each of his last three starts before the fifth inning, with batters fouling off pitches and dragging out at-bats. John Schneider also needs to be more aware of his starting pitcher and know that perhaps a similar workload that the team has done with players such as Yairel Rodriguez, Ryan Yarbrough and now potentially Eric Lauer, must be considered with Francis if they want to try and mold him back to his end of 2024 form. 
That all being said, there is still plenty of time to get Bowden’s 2025 season back on track. He’s only made seven starts, so there’s a lot of room for a turnaround that compares to his first few starts of the season. Last year’s second-half stretch showed that he is capable of turning things around.
With the recent issues with the fifth spot in the rotation, a return to form for Francis would go a long way for the team. The right-hander is slated to take the mound this weekend in Seattle. 

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