Ty France signed a bargain contract. Now he’s paying off big for Padres

SAN DIEGO — Amid a Padres season of peaks, valleys and another second-half surge, San Diego’s steadiest hitter has been one of baseball’s best bargains.

Ty France, who did not become the everyday first baseman until June, leads all Padres players with at least 300 plate appearances in OPS (.862). He ranks second in bWAR (3.2). The 32-year-old is making $1.35 million after returning to his original organization this February on a minor-league deal.

“I was a 1-WAR player last year, but it all came on the defensive side,” France said. “No teams want a defensive-only first baseman, I guess.”

An All-Star with the Seattle Mariners in 2022, France is back to delivering all-around production, though his offensive reemergence has been a year in the making. Traded from the Minnesota Twins to the Toronto Blue Jays last summer, France was met with an immediate diagnosis of a subtle problem: Blue Jays hitting coach David Popkins pointed out that where France’s hands used to climb in his pre-swing load, they were now going straight back.

They had been for the better part of two years. After an underwhelming 2023 season, France tried to overhaul his swing and “fell into a funk where I didn’t know how to pull myself out.” He got traded from Seattle to the Cincinnati Reds in 2024, settled for a non-guaranteed contract with Minnesota in February 2025, continued struggling, and got traded again.

That’s when he met Popkins, a San Diego native who coached for the Twins the previous three seasons, though the two men had never overlapped. They quickly connected.

“From the second I got (to Toronto), it was like, ‘Hey, we’re going to fix this,’” France said. “Very grateful for him and his work ethic. It could be 2 in the morning and I could have a question, and I’d call him and he’d answer. It didn’t matter; he just wanted to help and get the player better.”

It was a process. With his hands climbing again — the resulting rise-and-fall motion allows France to leverage gravity as his bat accelerates through the zone — he hit .277 with one home run for the Blue Jays in 94 at-bats. He appeared in the World Series and won a Gold Glove. Then he spent the winter fielding only minor-league offers.

With spring training approaching, France instructed his agent to reach out to the Padres, the team that drafted the San Diego State product in 2015 and watched him become a 34th-round steal. The two sides discussed a potential reunion on a big-league deal before the Padres signed Nick Castellanos, intending to audition the Philadelphia Phillies castoff at first base.

France still accepted a non-roster invite to the Padres’ camp in Arizona.

“On paper, it was just a good fit,” France said. “Gavin (Sheets) was the only first baseman at the time, and they wanted to try Casty at first, but knowing what I brought, at least on the defensive side, it just made the most sense and felt right and close to home.”

His new manager was former Padres teammate Craig Stammen. His new hitting coach was former outfielder Steven Souza Jr., who briefly played with France the season the first baseman was a Mariners All-Star.

Six months later, France has not only broken camp with the Padres. He has made a strong case for a second Gold Glove. And despite the eight-figure salaries in a lineup filled with household names, he has been the everyday cleanup hitter since June 19, the day France supplied two home runs and a double off Texas Rangers starter and potential Hall of Famer Jacob deGrom.

Ty France in 80 games with the Padres this season:

.286/.338/.548
16 HR
46 RBI
142 OPS+
2.6 WAR

DeRo shows love to the former All-Star and his resurgent season! pic.twitter.com/aG5w3ZUOju

— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) July 28, 2026

“We knew he’s a solid player who’s going to play a great first base and give you really good at-bats,” said Stammen, who was a veteran Padres reliever when France debuted in the big leagues. “Did we see him hitting in the four-hole and leading our offense the way he is? I don’t think so.”

Regardless of results, France remains a firm believer in process. In the hours leading up to that matchup with deGrom, he took what he later estimated to be 800 swings.

France had slumped at the plate for more than a week. During the prior series, Souza observed that, while the infielder’s hands were climbing in his pre-swing load, he was not tipping his barrel quite the way he had in the early 2020s — a mechanism that allows France to ease the tension in his hands. Not yet convinced, France sought to find out for himself.

“He took, like, a thousand swings in the cage. We did a bunch of drills. None of it felt good,” Souza said. “Then, right before the start of the game, he found something, and then he went (3-for-3) against deGrom with five RBIs.”

Since June 19, France is hitting .321 with 12 home runs and a .958 OPS, fourth-highest in the majors. Meanwhile, the rest of a previously disappointing offense has been catching up. Since the All-Star break, the Padres are hitting .273 with an .800 OPS. Both numbers rank at or near the top of the league.

In the same span, the Padres have gone 23-12 — including an 8-1 stretch before the trade deadline — surging into wild-card position and saving their season. France, a pending free agent, was among several players who drew interest from rival clubs before the team’s performance encouraged the front office to buy at the deadline.

France, whose wife is expecting twin girls, was glad to stay put.

“It was a two-week sprint, I guess you could call it, where we needed to play our best baseball, and we did,” France said.

Right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr., who did not homer until May 30, has been the hottest hitter in baseball. Center fielder Jackson Merrill, who slumped throughout the first half, has 11 home runs since the break. Amid what remain career-worst offensive seasons, third baseman Manny Machado and shortstop Xander Bogaerts have shown glimpses of their former selves.

But it is a minor-league signee, not the owners of nine-figure contracts, who has been a season-long constant while replicating his former, All-Star-caliber production.

“He’s always been a great player,” said Tatis, who first played with France in Double A in 2017. “Battling this year to even get a big-league contract, you see how tough this game is. Seeing him rise this year and becoming one of the top first basemen in the game is really, really impressive.”

“I don’t know if I was expecting this, but there’s an ability that you see in guys to barrel the ball uniquely. He has that ability,” Souza said. “This is who I know him to be as a baseball player, which is an immensely impactful hitter.”

“It’s nice,” France said, “feeling confident again and feeling like myself.”

Perhaps it is not a coincidence. France called last year’s trade to the Blue Jays a “blessing, not only personally getting to fix my swing, but the run that we had (into the World Series).” Now, he is back in the city he called home for several years — first while playing for Padres icon Tony Gwynn at San Diego State, then while playing for the Padres before he was traded to Seattle.

He might have already earned a longer stay beyond this season. With his recent success and an expanding family, it’s no secret that France would be open to discussing a contract extension or a new deal in free agency.

“I think from the beginning of last offseason, (the Padres) know how I feel about being here and the want to be here,” France said. “But at the end of the day, it’s their decision. We’re open to conversation, but there’s also a bigger picture, trying to fight for a playoff spot and finish the year strong.”

If he returns to the open market this offseason, France should be in far greater demand.