Is Ty France back?

The Seattle first baseman has reached base nine times in the past two games and is on a tear in August, but is he finally back? Let's take a look.

The last Mariner to get five hits in a game before Teoscar Hernández on Tuesday night in Kansas City? Teammate Ty France, who also collected four hits on the night. 

France accomplished the feat back in April of 2022. Coincidentally the performance was smack dab in the middle of a dominant first-half run that saw France post a 148 wRC+ and an appearance in the All-Star Game. 

Unfortunately for France and the Mariners, it has been downhill since then. An elbow injury followed by a wrist injury bothered him for the remainder of the year, a season categorized by chasing and weak contact. 

The struggles have spilled over into 2023, where he has posted a 108 wRC+ with almost no power. In fact, at many points during the last calendar year the 29 year old hasn’t even looked like the same player. 

A 108 wRC+ is still an above-average player, but the Mariners lineup needs consistency and hard contact from the first base spot, especially with the rest of the infield’s lack of power.

France is second in all of baseball in double plays grounded into with 20, only trailing Minnesota’s Carlos Correa.

In August the Seattle first baseman looked much more like an All-Star caliber player once again. France has posted a 200 wRC+ in August and his hard-hit rate has jumped to 42.1 percent, a massive jump of over 14 percent from the rest of his 2023. 

Contrary to what I thought at the beginning of my research, France isn’t using the whole field nearly as much over this hot stretch. He isn’t hitting the ball the other way as often, instead hitting the ball hard more often through the middle of the field. 

There aren’t any noticeable changes in his launch angles, just simply hitting the ball harder to the big part of the field. He is also walking much more often, to the tune of a 13.5% rate. Amazingly his xOBP and xwOBA are also the highest they have been in his major league career.

He has credited a lot of this to a chiropractic adjustment that has helped him look toward the pitcher in a more comfortable alignment. Whatever the case may be, the Mariners hope France’s success can continue if they have playoff aspirations once again in 2023. 

Three home runs in August have pushed his season total to 10, not counting the incredible play Cedric Mullins made on Sunday to rob him of an opposite-field blast. 

France reached base FIVE more times in Seattle’s 6-5 win over Kansas City on Wednesday, leading the charge with star outfielder Julio Rodríguez.

In baseball, confidence can sometimes be everything, and it seems Ty France has found it once again. GOMS.