Philadelphia, PA –  Maikel Franco of the Philadelphia Phillies has been downgraded to questionable for tonight’s game against the Cincinnati Reds because the young third baseman cannot be coaxed out from his bedroom after staying up all night watching the Friday the 13th series.

Franco was missing for his schedule morning batting cage session and would not return phone calls from manager Pete Mackanin or teammates. When several team representative showed up to his apartment, he had reportedly barricaded the door to his  luxury apartment and would not answer the door for the rest of the day because “Jason was out there.”

When asked why he decided to watch the movies, Franco said through the locked door that Carlos Ruiz goaded him into watching the famous horror franchise.

“How do I know you’re not Jason out there right now? There could be a whole mess of Jasons just waiting out there for me with machetes and hatchets, hack me up. No thanks. Play Whitey (Andres Blanco) tonight, I don’t care,” Franco said.

Officials could hear the harried young man frantically moving more furniture against his door to further strengthen the barricade.

Mackanin expressed concern that the young man needed to sharpen the “mental aspect” of his game, as he had already missed a game earlier in April due to concerns over the “boogie man.”

At press time, Phillies historians noted this was the first time a player has missed a game due to fear of a movie since the unfortunate week Darren Daulton sat out after watching the first Nightmare on Elm Street on Prism in 1992.