Rays Star Wander Franco Has $650,000 Worth of Jewelry Stolen

Wander Franco is one of the baseball world's brightest young stars.

The 21-year old star was a near-unanimous top overall prospect in the minors before being called up by the Rays last summer.

Even as a 20-year old, Franco was immediately successful, accumulating 3.5 WAR in only 70 games. He hit for power, played excellent defense, and got on base at a well above average clip, despite his youth.

Franco's 2022 season though, hasn't gone quite as well as hoped.

He's had some offensive struggles, seen his numbers fall across the board, and found himself on the injured list multiple times. Most recently, it was announced he'd miss 5-8 weeks with a broken hamate bone that required surgery.

But the biggest setback of the year for Franco undoubtedly happened off the field.

A new report from ESPN detailed that when rehabbing a previous injury in June, Franco had incredibly valuable jewelry stolen from out of his SUV.

Franco took his Rolls-Royce Cullinan to a Jacksonville hotel during his rehab stint, only to see it get broken into:

"Kahlil Eugene Mathis, 24, used a wrench to break into Franco's Rolls-Royce Cullinan in a Jacksonville, Florida, hotel parking lot at 3 a.m. on June 22 and grabbed a safe that contained seven pieces of jewelry, according to an arrest report. Mathis sold some of the jewelry, and police identified him through an Arizona driver's license and thumbprint he gave at a pawn shop before arresting him July 4, the report said. "

Mathis took seven pieces of jewelry, which were detailed in the arrest report:

• A $300,000 gold, diamond-encrusted Cuban link chain and circle medallion with diamonds and a W in the center
• A $200,000 rose gold Cuban link chain with diamonds
• A $70,000 gold pendant with a medallion in green and blue lettering spelling "FRANCO 5"
• A $44,000 Platinum Rolex watch with diamonds
• A $20,000 American League championship ring
• A $20,000 championship ring from Durham
• A $5,000 gold pendant of Jerry the mouse from the "Tom and Jerry" cartoon

Going down the list reveals mostly unsurprising choices; chains with diamonds, a platinum Rolex, championship rings, and then...a gold pendant of Jerry the mouse? What?

Why would a 21-year old have a pendant of Jerry from "Tom and Jerry?" If beat reporters do their jobs, that should be the first question asked of Franco at his next media availability.

While police did recover the rings, the chains and Rolex, valued at a combined $544,000, have been not yet been found.

There was no mention in the report of what became of the gold Jerry pendant.