Former Philadelphia Phillies third baseman Maikel Franco has signed a deal with Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, according to The Japan Times.
The Golden Eagles play in Nippon Professional Baseball, which is viewed by most as the second best league in the world. Franco joins a team that features former New York Yankees’ ace Masahiro Tanaka, and went 69-71 in 2022, good for a fourth place finish in Japan’s Pacific Division.
Franco, of course, spent the first six years of his career with the Phillies. But while he hit 102 home runs in red pinstripes and at times looked like he could be a cornerstone piece for the next great Phillies team, things fizzled out and he was non-tendered by the organization following the 2019 season.