If he doesn't break out of his slump, the Philadelphia Phillies could send Maikel Franco to Triple-A.

"We've talked about it," Pete Mackanin said. "That's about all I'll say. It's been discussed."

Franco has a hit in just three of his last 25 at-bats and was benched two days last week.

"Befuddled is a good word," Mackanin said last week. "As much as he works in the cage and on the field in batting practice and does it right, when he gets in the game his head is still flying [out] and his bat is coming out of the zone.

"You've heard me say this many times: Hitting is like riding a bike. I can't teach you to keep your head in there. I can tell you to do it, but you have to do it on your own and he's got to figure it out. Guys have to figure it out. They have to figure out how to get the job done. Whether it's cut down on your swing, choke up, use a different bat, use a different stance, do something different. If you make outs the same way over and over, it's not going to change.

"At this level you've got to produce. You want to play, you've got to hit and they have to understand that. Nobody is here on scholarship."