Ty France hit free company in the beginning of the offseason when the Reds outrighted him off their 40-man roster. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com tweets that the previous Mariner is open to catching alternatives as he fields curiosity from different groups. Feinsand provides that France has already acquired at the very least one assured contract provide, although it’s not clear what number of groups (if any) view him as a sensible possibility for work behind the plate.
France has by no means performed catcher in an MLB or minor league sport. He’s not wholly unfamiliar with the place although. As a member of the Padres early in his profession, France took catching reps on the staff’s alternate coaching web site in the course of the 2020 canceled minor league season. He was reportedly seen as a possible emergency catcher in each San Diego and Seattle, although neither staff ever acquired right into a scenario the place they had been compelled to make use of him.
At 30 years previous with no in-game catching expertise, France might be not more than a 3rd catcher or emergency possibility. It’d be an enormous activity for him to acclimate to the receiving and game-calling nuances for even semi-regular work on the place. Nonetheless, there’s little hurt for France in expressing a willingness to entertain catching if a staff provided him the chance.
France’s lack of defensive worth is the largest knock towards him. Whereas he has a little bit of expertise at each second and third base, he doesn’t have the quickness to play both place usually. France performed virtually solely first base in 2024. He acquired poor defensive marks there as nicely. Defensive Runs Saved graded him seven runs beneath common, whereas Statcast estimated he was 9 runs beneath par.
For a pair years, France offset that minimal defensive profile with an enormous efficiency on the plate. He mixed for a strong .284/.354/.441 slash between the 2020 deadline deal that despatched him to Seattle and the tip of the ’22 season. His manufacturing dipped to a .250/.337/.366 line in 2023. The decline continued this 12 months, as France acquired out to a .223/.312/.350 begin earlier than the Mariners designated him for project. A transfer to hitter-friendly Nice American Ball Park didn’t spark his bat. France hit .251/.292/.391 in 52 video games for the Reds.
FanGraphs and Baseball Reference every graded France’s 2024 efficiency beneath alternative degree. That made it an apparent name for Cincinnati to say no to tender him an arbitration contract that doubtless would’ve topped $8MM. It wasn’t out of the query that France could be restricted to minor league presents, however Feinsand’s report signifies there’s at the very least one staff prepared to present him an Opening Day job. That’d very doubtless be on a low base wage, doubtlessly with incentives based mostly on his video games or plate appearances.
