MILWAUKEE — Jeff Francoeur is done listening to most of the hitting advice he has been receiving.
The struggling Mets right fielder was told by manager Jerry Manuel during a meeting yesterday that it’s time he tuned out the chatter in his brain.
“I’ve let way too many people into my circle of trust,” Francoeur said before the Mets’ 8-6 loss to the Brewers last night at Miller Park.
The new plan is for Francoeur to listen exclusively to Manuel and hitting coach Howard Johnson. Francoeur said he’s let too many friends and teammates influence his approach at the plate. Entering last night, he was in a 20-for-130 (.154) nosedive dating to the Mets’ 20-inning victory in St. Louis on April 17.
Though he made strides toward busting out last night, with two hits and a walk in four plate appearances, the slump has overshadowed the strong start Francoeur had to the season, and the solid 2½ months he had for the club in 2009 after arriving from the Braves.
“I listened to three people last year: Jerry, HoJo and [Gary] Sheffield,” Francoeur said. “I’ve got to listen to HoJo and Jerry, and everybody else, I’m not going to be a [jerk] about it, I’ll take their advice and let it go in one ear and out the other.
“Right now I’m up at the plate and I’m thinking about six different things, and you can’t hit doing that.”
Francoeur said the fact he entered play last night batting .218 didn’t bother him as much as the quality of his recent at-bats.
“I’ve never been a guy to worry about my average,” Francoeur said. “It will be there at the end, regardless — .260 or .270 or whatever.
“But what’s [ticked] me off the last few weeks is I’m not driving the ball. That’s what frustrates me.”
The road back, he said, starts with simplicity. He believes that listening to Manuel and Johnson exclusively will unclutter his mind.
“You’ve got 10 different things going through your head and half of them are probably contradicting each other,” Francoeur said. “Last year I got in such a great routine and I’ve got to get back to that.”