Seattle Mariners: Power’s Out in France

Chris Phillips   |  

May 8, 2022

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The Seattle Mariners offense isn’t firing on all cylinders. One of their heavily relied upon bats, Ty France is currently experiencing a power outage.

Over their last 12 games, the Seattle Mariners are 2-10. In that time frame, the offense has scored over five runs only three times. They’ve been held to two runs or less six times and shut out twice. Unsurprisingly, they’ve tumbled in the standings, and many of the positive vibes are starting to fade away. Subsequently, this down period fuels the haters who are quick to say, “Same old Mariners. Don’t spend in free agency and sell us the idea of next year.” These people are exhausting.

Gone Streaking

Curiously, one of the Seattle Mariners’ most consistent hitters is currently not hitting like he did to start the season. Ty France has not been the same hitter during this 12-game stretch. His stats read as follows, a .255 average, two runs scored and driven in, two walks, five strikeouts, and one error. No, it’s not an error. He has zero extra-base hits. His last extra-base hit was a home run on April 24, one day after his five-hit game.

Currently

Now, a .261 average isn’t terrible. And it’s hard to score or drive runners in when the hitters around you are also struggling. During this stretch, France’s HardHit% comes in at 34.31%, which is just 3.99 percent off his career average of 38.3%. Also, his exit velocity checks in at 86.35 mph, which is only 1.85 mph lower than his career average of 88.2 mph.

Something of concern is that for the year (small sample size), his launch angle is 8 (currently a career-low) compared to his career of 11.8. And for an even smaller sample size during this 12-game stretch, his launch angle checks in at 2.41. So, he’s hitting that ball hard relatively still, but the hits are just more on the ground than normal.

To Start the Year

Now for some perspective. To start the season, France’s HadHit% was 38.2%, his exit velocity was 88.54 mph, and his launch angle was 12.53. All these numbers are more in line with his career averages. So, early on, he enjoyed plenty of success along with the Seattle Mariners.

What’s going on then?

So, it most likely is that opposing pitchers have adjusted how they pitch to France. Before this 10-game skid, he saw the fastball at 57%, the slider at 27%, cutter at 2%, curveball at 9%, changeup at 4%, and split-finger at 0.3%. During this stretch, he sees the fastball at 43%, the slider at 31%, the cutter, and curveball at 7% each, changeup at 8%, and split-finger at 3%. We can glean from this that he’s getting fewer fastballs and curveballs, with an increase in the rest of the repertoire.

This change in pitches is the main reason for his power outage. France is too good of a hitter to continue at this pace much longer. What would help him out is if the batters in front of him get on base more frequently, forcing pitchers to throw their fastball more frequently instead of pitching around him. Regardless, France will get this figured out and get back to hitting for extra bases with more frequency soon enough.