Monday, May 25

SAN DIEGO -- The Padres’ biggest stars have struggled at the plate, and their rotation has been decimated by injuries. And yet, nearly a third of the way into the season, they’re 10 games above .500.

There are plenty of reasons for that. The bullpen has obviously been excellent. The rotation has made it work, even without some key arms. But one of the most impressive aspects of these 2026 Padres has been the performance of the supposed role players. They've gotten roster-wide contributions to make the offense tick.

And nobody embodies that more than Ty France.

France signed a Minor League deal with the Padres during Spring Training and received an invitation to big league camp. He would need to earn his way onto the roster -- and that’s precisely what he did.

Now, it’s worth wondering where the Padres would be without France. He homered on Sunday and is now hitting .279 with an .846 OPS -- the best mark on the team among active players.

It’s also become clear that the Padres’ preference is to avoid using Miguel Andujar and Nick Castellanos at first base. As such, France’s glove has been immensely valuable. He starts at first base semi-regularly. He comes off the bench otherwise -- and can deliver a quality at-bat or Gold Glove-caliber defense.

France picked up that 2025 Gold Glove Award last week in a pregame ceremony. A couple nights later, on Saturday, he turned in a brilliant performance at first base that saw him turn three double plays -- each of them different, all of them coming with some degree of difficulty.

Perhaps there’s a case that France should have earned more playing time by now. He’s received 90 plate appearances, when most of the Padres’ regulars have gotten twice that. But France has also thrived in this role. So the same case could be made that he should stick to it.

Whatever the role, France is clearly fine with it. Selected by the Padres in the 34th round out of San Diego State in 2015, France got his big league breakthrough in 2019. A year later, he was traded to Seattle. He was mostly solid for the Mariners. But he’d struggled across the past two seasons, bouncing among four different clubs.

Which left him looking for a home in this winter, when the Padres came calling. The fit wasn’t an obvious one -- particularly after the team had signed Andujar and Castellanos in the preceding weeks. In hindsight, the signing looks like a no-brainer.

“I feel like myself again at the plate, which is comforting,” France said. “There was a good two-year stretch where I was searching for my swing. I feel like I’m in a really good spot now. [Hitting coach Steven] Souza and the guys have done a great job with me. 

“And being home on top of it -- that just adds a little cherry on top.”

These Padres, of course, are very different from the Padres that France broke into the big leagues with. When he was traded at the 2020 Deadline, San Diego was still only on the precipice of breaking its longstanding playoff drought.

In the six years since, the Padres have reached the postseason four times. France, meanwhile, made his own name for himself. He reached the postseason in 2022 with the Mariners and the World Series last year with the Blue Jays. He was an All-Star in ‘22 and a Gold Glover in ‘25.

“He just brings someone that’s been there, done that and has had success in the big leagues,” said Padres manager Craig Stammen -- France’s former teammate on those 2019 and ‘20 Padres teams. “He brings that experience and belief that he can get it done in any moment.

"For us, this group, he’s brought some professionalism. Not that we didn’t have professionals. But he adds that element to it, where he’s prepared every single day for any type of role -- whether that’s starting or coming off the bench. And then, he also has an elite skill set at first base, where he’s got the Gold Glove.”

Earlier this week, as you may have seen, Manny Machado assured a throng of reporters that the team’s stars would produce soon enough -- that they would take the reins offensively from the likes of, say, France, Andujar, Gavin Sheets and Luis Campusano, who have kept this offense afloat.

The Padres can only hope. They're still probably going nowhere without more production from their big boppers. But in the meantime, they've needed production from … somewhere. And has France ever delivered it.

Lucas Giolito has won his first two starts. Who is the last Padres pitcher to earn the win in each of his first three appearances for the club?

A. Odrisamer Despaigne

B. Aaron Harang

C. Dineslon Lamet

D. Joe Musgrove

• Not that the A’s needed one. But Mason Miller offered his former team a reminder of what they're missing out on.

• Some takeaways from Sunday's series finale, including an encouraging afternoon for Fernando Tatis Jr. and the philosophy behind the Padres' aggressiveness on the basepaths.

• The Padres rarely outslugged their opponents last season. This season, the power hasn’t been spectacular, but they’re at least proving it’s in there.

• Our Jared Greenspan has an excellent look at why so many pitchers with big-time velocity are actually throwing fewer fastballs. (Featuring quite a few Padres and former Padres.)

San Diego wraps up its nine-game homestand with three games against Philadelphia this week, beginning this afternoon at Petco Park. Then, Tuesday night, the Padres are giving away a patriotic Aloha shirt to the first 40,000 fans in attendance. You can check out the full list of giveaways and buy tickets for those games here.

B. Aaron Harang

Harang won his first three starts for the Padres in 2011, then racked up a fourth as well. He and Dennis Rasmussen (1988) are the only pitchers to earn the win in each of their first four appearances with San Diego.

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