Rays' Wander Franco: Crushes homer in spring win

Franco went 2-for-3 with a solo home run in Wednesday's Grapefruit League win over the Pirates, with Adam Berry of MLB.com reporting the round tripper appeared to land on the roof of the Rays' office behind right field at Charlotte Sports Park.

The Rays will do their best to stick to what would seem to be a level-headed approach of giving Franco some more minor-league seasoning for at least part of 2021, but the elite prospect may simply force the team's hand with respect to speeding up the timeline for his majors debut. Franco's second-inning blast off reliever Miguel Yajure easily scaled the boardwalk neighboring the right-field fence before finally making its descent, giving him a very memorable first hit of spring after an 0-for-5 tally over his first pair of Grapefruit League outings. Franco should continue to see plenty of at-bats for the balance of spring training, and although his pedigree keeps any possibility in play, it's likeliest he opens 2021 in the minors, potentially at Triple-A Durham.