Already struggling to try to get back to the .500 mark, the Seattle Mariners have suffered another setback to their season with the loss of Ty France after the slugging first baseman was involved in a freak collision on Thursday.
The Seattle Mariners suffer a big blow to their lineup with the loss of Ty France to the 10-day injured list
You can see the play where the injury occurred below as France was taking a throw after a grounder off the bat of Sheldon Neuse of the Oakland A’s. Neuse collides with France’s glove and arm as he hits first base, and France goes down immediately in pain. France left the game after this play.
Ty France left the game after getting injured on this play at first pic.twitter.com/gYyAtD3Uke
— A's on NBCS (@NBCSAthletics) June 23, 2022
The result of the play was a Grade 2 flexor strain in his left arm, which will place France on the 10-day injured list.
France is currently slashing .316/.390/.476 and leads the Mariners with 3.0 bWAR. He is one of three Mariners with 10 or more home runs this season, with his 10 tying Julio Rodriguez and trailing the team-leading 13 off the bat of Eugenio Suarez.
In the first round of the All-Star Game voting, France was in second place for the American League at first base, with his 596,030 votes trailing Vladimir Guerrero Jr. of the Toronto Blue Jays (947,045).
As MLBTradeRumors.com pointed out in this article, replacing France will be anything but easy for the Mariners. He has started all but three games for the team at first base, and there is no quality backup for France at the position, with Abraham Toro struggling to a .167/.217/.307 as a utility infielder.
Entering Saturday’s action with a 33-39 mark, the Seattle Mariners are 12.0 games back in the American League West race and 6.0 games back for a Wild Card spot. Making up any ground while France is on the shelf will certainly be a daunting task for a team that is 18th in MLB overall with -0.1 bWAR overall … and that includes France’s contributions.