Former Seattle fan favorite Ty France is having a bonkers post-Mariners career

By the time the Mariners traded Ty France to the Reds in 2024, he was hitting .223/.312/.350, and the whole thing had started to feel stuck. The team had real expectations. It needed the old version of France. The All-Star, the glue to the lineup, and the guy who wore pitches like a second jersey. Instead, Seattle had a first baseman who was not giving them enough first-base offense.

He had gone from lineup stabilizer, clubhouse favorite and hit-by-pitch magnet to a first baseman without enough pop for the position. 

Missing a player emotionally is different from believing the team made the wrong baseball decision. At the time, the Mariners were cutting bait on a player whose best days had slipped behind him.

Ty France has turned his post-Mariners chapter into something weirdly impressive

Well. France has now played for four teams since leaving Seattle midway through 2024: the Reds, Twins, Blue Jays and Padres. Sounds like a journeyman until we look closer. This hasn’t exactly been a sad tumble through rosters. France has somehow turned his post-Mariners career into one of the strangest, most useful second acts in baseball.

He finished 2024 with Cincinnati. Signed with Minnesota before 2025. Then traded to Toronto at the deadline in the same deal that sent Louis Varland to the Blue Jays. Then, after that, he won an American League Gold Glove at first base and ended up one out away from a World Series ring. Now he’s back with the Padres, the organization that originally drafted him, after signing a minor-league deal before the 2026 season.  

The easy line would be that France has bounced around since leaving Seattle. But “bouncing around” only makes sense if he’s been clinging to the back of rosters by his fingernails. 

The Blue Jays needed a right-handed bat, a safer glove and a late-game option around Vladimir Guerrero Jr. France gave them that. He led all major league first basemen with 10 Outs Above Average in 2025, a ridiculous turnaround from the -12 mark he posted the year before.  

With San Diego this season, he’s taken it even further. France is slugging .511, with five home runs and 16 RBIs, putting him at the top of San Diego’s roster in that category among players with at least 90 plate appearances. Granted, the power outage in San Diego needs to be studied. But France can still enjoy the view from above Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr., Jackson Merrill and company on the slugging leaderboard.

France hasn’t turned prime Paul Goldschmidt yet. And we aren’t saying he will. But he’s finding lanes, and still helping teams win.

For the Mariners, they were allowed to move on. France was not producing enough here, and first base is not a position where teams can live on nostalgia.

But it’s still cool to see France carving out a niche role for himself. 

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow