France went 2-for-3 with one home run, one double, four RBI and two runs scored in Saturday's Grapefruit League game against the Red Sox.
He had an RBI double off Aroldis Chapman in the fourth inning and later swatted a three-run homer off Josh Winckowski in the sixth. France inked a one-year, $1 million deal with the Twins back on Feb. 11 and has torn the cover off the ball eight games into spring training. Through 22 plate appearances, France is slashing .524/.565/1.000 with two long balls, four doubles, seven RBI, six runs scored and a pair of walks. Manager Rocco Baldelli has said France is viewed as Minnesota's starting first baseman going into the season, and it's "not a platoon situation."
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Twins' Ty France: Viewed as starter at 1B
Rotowire
France is viewed by the Twins as the starter at first base, the Minnesota Star Tribune reports. "He's going to play a lot," manager Rocco Baldelli said. "That's really the best way of saying it. The kind of hitter that he is, this isn't a platoon situation. I think he's going to play."
France signed just a one-year, $1 million contract which wouldn't appear to indicate he'd be the leader for an everyday role. Baldelli could be just boosting his confidence as the team works on his swing after a 2024 season that saw him hit just .234/.305/.365 with 13 homers over 140 regular-season games. Jose Miranda and Edouard Julien will also compete for playing time at first base and France could still work in a platoon or time share. Still, Baldelli's comments should make France the leader in the competition as spring training begins.
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Twins' Ty France: Inks one-year pact with Minnesota
Rotowire
The Twins signed France to a one-year, $1 million contract Tuesday, Phil Miller of the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports.
It's a major-league contract but is not guaranteed, per Miller. France will be thrown into the first-base mix for Minnesota along with Jose Miranda and Edouard Julien. The 30-year-old slashed only .234/.305/.365 with 13 homers over 140 regular-season games between the Mariners and Reds last season, but the Twins will be hoping to get a version of France closer to the one that produced an All-Star campaign in 2022 with Seattle.
France is willing to consider playing catcher, Mark Feinsand of MLB.com reports.
France has never caught an inning either at the major- or minor-league level, but he did get some reps behind the plate at the Padres' alternate site in 2020 and has been viewed as an emergency catcher at a couple stops. Realistically, it's difficult to envision the 30-year-old France seeing substantial time at catcher at this point in his career, especially since he's evidently drawn free-agent interest from 10-plus clubs, per Feinsand.
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Ty France: Becomes free agent
Rotowire
France elected free agency Friday.
France refused an outright assignment to the minors, exercising his right to hit the free agent market instead. The 30-year-old slashed only .234/.305/.365 with 13 home runs over 140 games this season between the Mariners and Reds. France should be able to find a major-league deal somewhere, although perhaps not as an everyday player.
France went 1-for-3 with a two-run home run in Saturday's 7-1 win over the Pirates.
France took Jared Jones deep in the third inning and snapped a streak of 14 games without a home run. After a hot stretch initially upon joining the Reds, France had hit a skid, slashing .200/.193/.255 with zero homers over his last 14 games. The 30-year-old has five of his 13 homers with Cincinnati to go along with a .746 OPS in 160 at-bats since joining his new team.
France went 2-for-3 with a solo home run in Thursday's 1-0 win over the Astros.
France took Bryan Abreu deep in the seventh inning to plate the only run needed for the Reds to complete the sweep of the Astros. France hit his 12th home run of the year, matching last season's total in 37 fewer games. The 30-year-old went 9-for-11 in this Astros series, becoming the third player this season with multiple hits and an RBI in three straight games against Houston.
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