The Untouchables Paderborn and former Minor Leaguer Michael Franke part ways. And according to reports and the article on the team website it isn’t really a happy ending. The club made the decision to terminate the contract at the end of the year following a meeting on Monday, which evaluated Franke’s work as youth coordinator. The U’s basically said that they were longer not satisfied with his work.
Speaking with a local newspaper the catcher/first baseman/designated hitter also stated that he and head coach Stefan Fechtig not always were on the same page this past season. So it was time to go into a different direction. The 30-year-old Franke is confident to find a new team in the Baseball-Bundesliga. As a longtime member of the German National Team this shouldn’t be a problem.
Franke was playing with the Untouchables since the 2003 season. He won three German championships and worked fulltime for the club in the past four years. This year he batted .346/.439/.444 with one homerun, five doubles, 21 runs and 19 RBI in 23 games (11 behind the plate, 9 at first). He led Paderborn into the German finals, were they blew a 2-0 lead and to lose the title to the Buchbinder Legionaere Regensburg.