PHREAK SHOW: The Cult of Benny Fresh

Pat, the second half of The Citizens Bankers, spills his guts with some bold predictions for Ben Francisco.  A whispering wind heard only by a few, Benny Fresh’s role has been secluded to backup duty, pinch hitting, and seeing his name next to the word “platoon.”  But is he going to be the next Jayson Werth?  Hell no.  He’s going to be the next William Penn.

The Cult of Benny Fresh

by Pat from The Citizens Bankers

The Citizens Bankers was founded on the premise of “the ordinary man’s blog.” Our goal at TCB is to inform the casual fan with what they don’t know about their Phillies, or perhaps what they don’t realize. Fans develop favorites and put other players in their doghouses. We at The Citizens Bankers aim to dilute these prejudices to give an accurate and more precise idea of the players who we all love. The following is presented by The Banker.

The other day I received a text message from a friend of mine:

Dom brown broke his hand, crap.

I had already heard the news at the time so I wanted to respond with, “This is the best news possible,” but felt it would be too confusing to explain via-text message.  The truth is, there are plenty of good things about Dom Brown breaking his hand and getting sidelined for 4-6 weeks.

The first is that it will be a confidence boost for him later. He’s not going to make the Opening Day roster now so he’ll be forced to return to crushing AAA pitching. In the meantime, he can figure out his batting stance so that it’s more adjusted for The Majors without having to endure the millions of fans’ eyes watching and the scrutiny of the Philadelphia press. And when he goes to think about that disastrous spring, it’s not a matter of him losing the position–he got hurt, he was incapable of winning it.

All of these things are great for Domonic, but what about the new starting right fielder for the Philadelphia Phillies:  #10, Big Ben, Benny Fresh, Benjamin Francisco.

Louis Ben Francisco is going to explode onto the Philadelphian Sport Scene and gather immediate respect from the fans. Your casual fan who is slightly dedicated during the offseason will have questions about who is going to replace Dom “The Future” Brown, now that he’s hurt?  The evidence isn’t on the sports channels. It’s on the social networking websites. It’s in talking to your friends and family. People don’t know what to do now that Dom is hurt.

Big Ben does, and he is going to surprise a lot of people.

That’s the first thing that’s going to go in his favor. The lack of knowledge about Benny Fresh from the fans will only aid his Cult Hero Status. Don’t believe me? Ask Jayson Werth. He was a complete unknown before coming here, getting a second chance, and doing everything he could with it.  To add to his favoritism, he’s going to come into the regular season and mash.

There are several indications as to why he’s going to do well hitting the ball: the first is how he’s been playing in spring training so far. Sure, its just spring, but he hasn’t had a starting job since 2008; he wants to play everyday more than anyone else on this roster.

What’s more, in today’s technology, pitching coaches and pitchers go over hours of game tape of hitters in preparation. It’s been three years since Benny Fresh had serious playing time so game tape of him as of recently will be hard to compile. He’s going to surprise some pitchers, certainly, with his ability.

My point is this: what do you suppose will happen if Ben Francisco comes out and destroys for the first few weeks; maybe the entirety of April? The fans will want to know more about him. Where did he come from? How did this stud end up on our squad full of mainstays? Why wasn’t he playing before? Jayson who? Domonic who?

To top things off, he can be slipped right into the middle of the lineup behind Ryan Howard as the power righty this lineup is missing. I’m not saying that all of this is going to happen, I’m just saying to not be surprised if it does. Ben has the possibility of launching himself into the hearts of Phillies fans everywhere. They’re not expecting much of him. He has the opportunity, much like he had the opportunity this spring to get the starting job in right field. I’m just trying to say, if he takes advantage, he is going to be adored by the most dedicated fan base in baseball.