Braves broadcaster Jeff Francoeur tests positive for COVID-19
By John Buhler
Atlanta Braves lead analyst Jeff Francoeur tested positive for COVID-19.
Popular Atlanta Braves baseball analyst Jeff Francoeur has tested positive for the coronavirus.
Francoeur is thriving in his second baseball career. The former big-league outfielder player a dozen MLB seasons, most notably with his hometown Braves from 2005 to 2009 and briefly in 2016 before hanging up the spikes. Though never an All-Star, the former first-round pick out of Parkview High School in the 2002 MLB Amateur Draft did win a Gold Glove back in 2007.
Francoeur tweeted out late Tuesday afternoon he had come down with the virus. “I have tested positive for COVID-19. I am asymptomatic and feel fine, but I will be in self-quarantine until I’m cleared to get back to the broadcast booth with Chip and Tom. In the interim, I’ll be following the Braves on FOX Sports South. Please keep safe and wear a mask.”
I have tested positive for COVID-19. I am asymptomatic and feel fine, but I will be in self-quarantine until I’m cleared to get back to the broadcast booth with Chip and Tom. In the interim, I’ll be following the Braves on FOX Sports South. Please keep safe and wear a mask.
— Jeff Francoeur (@JeffFrancoeur) July 21, 2020
Look for it to be Chip Caray and Tom Glavine in the Braves booth for a bit.
While it stinks Francoeur will miss some time calling Braves games, Atlanta is in good shape to offset his loss in the booth for however long it takes for him to recover from the coronavirus. Chip Caray is a third-generation big-league play-by-play guy. His grandfather is the iconic Harry Caray, while his father Skip Caray was the voice of the Braves during the Team of the ’90s run.
It was expected to be a three-man booth, as Baseball Hall of Famer Tom Glavine has called games for FOX Sports South for years since his retirement. He and Caray have a strong rapport after he hung up the spikes in 2009 after his illustrious and unforgettable big league career. The Braves booth may not be as captivating without Francoeur in the booth, but the team will be good.
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Atlanta is poised to win its third straight NL East crown in 2020. Maybe this will be the year the Braves finally get back to the World Series or the NLCS? Atlanta hasn’t been to the NLCS since 2001 or the World Series since 1999, near the end of Glavine’s first run with the Braves and when Francoeur was dominating on the high school baseball diamond for the Parkview Panthers.
Francoeur isn’t the first Brave to contract coronavirus, but hopefully, he makes a speedy recovery.