3:47 pm: The Mariners have officially announced France’s designation of IL, which is retroactive to June 24. Infielder Drew Ellis He was called up from Triple-A to take France’s place on the active list.
8:45 am: Sailors first man base Ty France Tells MLB.com’s Daniel Kramer He has a grade 2 fatigue in his left arm and will be put on the casualty list for 10 days.
France was playing first base on Thursday when sheldon news Hitting a ball led to a close play in the bag. When France reached the pitch, he and News made contact, with News’s body appearing to be bending France’s wrist backwards. France fell to the ground in apparent pain and left the game.
France’s loss would undoubtedly be a blow to the Mariners, as he has been the club’s best hitter over the past two years. Acquired from Padres in a seven-man deal at Deadline 2020, France hit .291/.368/.445 last year. This resulted in a 129 WRC+, the highest mark of its kind among the year’s qualified sailors. This season, he’s taken his game to a higher level, as he currently hits .316/.390/.476, giving him 157 wRC+. This is easily the best mark among the qualified hitters on the team and the top 11 in all of baseball this year.
Rolling out this kind of production would hurt any lineup, but the sailors would face a particular challenge, since there were no clear options for advancing and taking his place. France started all but three of Seattle’s first base games this year, with Abraham Toro get one and Dylan Moore Get the other two. Toro is having a miserable season, and is currently sitting on the .167/ .217/ .307 streak. He is also the team’s assisting player, as it is used to give occasional break time to players like Adam Fraser And the Eugenio Suarez, which makes it unsuitable to take on daily work at first. Moore hits .170/.342/.330 in a part-time role. Despite his low batting average, his 14.2% gait rate helps him reach a WRC+ of 107, although it can be difficult to maintain with a full-time bat. Evan White, who once looked like the club’s first future captain, is currently in IL for 60 days. Kramer recently observed He’s not close to getting back and he won’t be able to.
Despite the strong annoyance and high expectations coming into the season, the Mariners are in an awkward position right now. Their 33-39 record puts them in six away matches to date. We’re just over a month away from the trade deadline, which makes the next batch of games very important for teams to decide how seriously they want to be as the August 2 deadline approaches. Sailors will now have to navigate at least ten days of this stretch without their best racket.
“Typical food guru. Problem solver. Devoted beer practitioner. Professional reader. Baconaholic.”