Ty France had a few connections to the Minnesota Twins before he signed a one-year, $1 million non-guaranteed contract with them before spring training.
In the offseason, France worked with former Twins utilityman Denny Hocking to rediscover his All-Star swing. Minnesota’s bench coach, Jayce Tingler, managed him when he was breaking into the league with the San Diego Padres. France also got to know first base coach Hank Conger while playing against Minnesota.
“I just spent a lot of time with the last couple of years,” said France with a wry smile. “He's definitely a character.”
France won’t share what Conger said over the years, but it must have stuck with him.
However, France has a more direct connection to Tingler. San Diego took France out of San Diego State in the 34th round of the 2015 draft, and he broke into the majors in 2019. A year later, the Padres hired Tingler.
France hit .309/.377/.491 in 20 games playing for Tingler. However, the Padres traded him to the Seattle Mariners in a seven-player deadline swap. France finished the COVID-shortened season hitting .302/.362/.453 in 23 games with the Mariners.
“[Tingler] was the one that traded me to Seattle,” France said in jest. “So I give him crap for that all the time.”
Tingler said he kept tabs on France after San Diego traded him.
“I would track him quite a bit,” said Tingler. “Like a lot of former players that you've had or anything, you're always watching from box scores. You're watching MLB TV. You're always watching those guys from afar.
“Besides when they're playing you, you're deep down kind of pulling for those guys.”
Tingler watched as France turned into an All-Star in Seattle. France hit .291/.368/.445 with 18 homers with the Mariners in 2021. A year later, he made the All-Star team, hitting .274/.338/.436 with 20 homers in Seattle’s pitcher-friendly park.
However, France hit .250/.337/.336 with 12 homers a year after his All-Star season. He went from being a 4.4 WAR player in 2021 and a 3.7 as an All-Star to generating 0.7 WAR in 2022. Last year, he was hitting .223/.312/.350 with eight homers when Seattle traded him to the Cincinnati Reds at the deadline.
France finished the season hitting .251/.292/.391 in Cincinnati. In three years, France had gone from being an All-Star to a sub-replacement level player signing a non-guaranteed contract at age 30.
“This offseason, I worked with Denny Hocking,” said France. “He’s a Twins legend, apparently. I got in the cage with him. It was more so me leading the direction and letting him know, ‘Okay, this is what I need. When I’m at my best, this is what I do.’”
France played for Tony Gwynn at San Diego State and said Gwynn focused on simplifying things at the plate. Instead of biomechanics and analytics, France focused on feel and relied on his instincts.
“I panicked a little because I wasn’t used to that kind of production,” France said of his reaction to his 101 OPS+ in 2023. “I tried to tap into (the mechanical side) that I shouldn’t tap into. I should just worry about being a baseball player and hitting the ball.
“I’d be in the box worrying about, ‘Is my hip coiling? Am I separating?’ (I was) getting lost in the mechanical aspect instead of just going out and competing. So this spring and this season is going to be a lot of just getting back to the basics and just hitting the ball again.”
Tingler said the best approach is to offer simple instruction, knowing that hitters must make quick decisions. Hitters with too much going on in their heads tend to be slow to react.
“Going through what he's gone through, there's a lot of mechanics, biomechanics work,” said Tingler. “You're thinking about those things, but you have a pitcher on the mound. So probably one or two simple messages, and then giving him the ability to go out and compete. It's you versus the pitcher, you versus the ball, and keeping those simple and letting him do his thing.”
Derek Falvey said he’s been interested in adding France for a while.
“Ty has always been on our radar,” said Falvey. “There have been a couple of conversations we had from a trade context, wondering if he would be a fit.
“He is a guy that fits us,” Falvey added. “A couple of short years ago, his swing was where he wanted it to be. He was an All-Star a few seasons ago. We felt for where we are with our group, his ability to add to the depth at first base and play a little bit more there as a right-handed bat. We felt like he was a good fit.”
That’s understandable when France was an All-Star, but now they’re trying to get him right. The Twins seem confident they will. Rocco Baldelli expects to play him a lot. They believe France still can be that player.
“He's continuing to grow,” said Tingler. “[France is] discovering things about himself. Hopefully, like he said, he's going to simplify some things [and] use the whole field.
“He's always had very good hand-eye. He sees the zone well. So being able to tap in, use his hands a little bit, use the other part of the field, [and] be a natural line drive hitter.”
The Twins have a few other reclamation projects in spring training. Harrison Bader, 30, got Rookie of the Year votes in 2018 and earned a Gold Glove in 2021. However, he hit .236/.284/.373 with the New York Mets last year. Diego Cartaya was the Los Angeles Dodgers’ No. 1 prospect in 2023 but fell out of favor with the organization.
If the Twins can rejuvenate players like France, Bader, and Cartaya, they’ve unlocked a way to compete with MLB’s big-market teams that dominate free agency. France was an All-Star in 2017. He should be able to hold down first base for Minnesota at 30.
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