Ty France Is A Reminder That Baseball Isn't One Size Fits All

Where would the San Diego Padres be without Ty France? It’s impossible to know, but they almost certainly wouldn’t be 32-27. His 137 wRC+ leads the team among players with over 100 plate appearances, but that’s not really the interesting part. Unheralded players go through hot streaks all the time and carry their team in the process. While France has done that to some degree, it’s how he’s doing that which is noteworthy. 

Modern baseball hitting philosophy can be boiled down to three words: lift and pull. The reason for this is relatively simple. When you lift and pull, you’re more likely to hit the ball hard and in the air, which leads to extra bases. On top of that, if the pitcher knows you can do serious damage on contact, they pitch you more carefully, which means more balls and more walks. Functionally, lifting and pulling the ball leads to more power and on-base, which is kind of the name of the game. However, every hitter is different, and there is no one-size-fits-all approach, which brings us back to Ty France. 

France has gotten off to a torrid start by hitting the crap out of the ball. His 3.6% walk rate is scary, especially next to a 23.4% strikeout rate, but when you make that much contact and pair it with a 50% hard-hit rate, you can prosper. What is unusual is that France isn’t lifting and pulling his way to glory; in fact, he’s doing the opposite. 

On average, major leaguers pull 41% of their contact and go to the opposite field 23.7% of the time. By this metric, France doesn’t really stand out. He’s pulling 41.8% of his contact and going the other way at a 21.5% rate. However, that doesn’t mean he isn’t one of the most opposite-field-oriented hitters in baseball. 

On pulled contact, France is hitting fly balls 18.2% of the time, compared to the MLB average of 24.9%, and 58.8% of his opposite field contact are fly balls, against the MLB average of 62.20%. So, while France pulls the ball in the air much less than average, that’s still not really what makes him so interesting. 

Where you hit the ball is less important than how well you hit the ball. If you hit the ball hard enough, you have much more leeway with spray and launch angle, and this is where France has zigged where everyone else has zagged. 

France is currently sporting a 47.1% hard-hit rate on balls to the opposite field. If he had enough plate appearances to qualify, he’d rank third in that metric, behind only James Wood and Drake Baldwin, and even that undersells what he’s doing. On average, the MLB hard-hit rate is only 20.5% on balls to the opposite field, which France is more than doubling. 

When you factor in that France has a 29.4% line drive rate, on top of a 58.8% field fly ball rate, it’s easy to see why this unique profile is working. He’s lifting and crushing pitches to the opposite field in a way that few hitters have. 

Lift and pull isn’t actually about pulling the ball. In general, most hitters simply hit the ball harder to the pull side and struggle mightily to go the other way with authority. The thing is, France is not one of those hitters. He is elite at hitting the ball hard in the air to the opposite field, so why should he stop?

Over the long haul, I doubt France will continue to run a wOBA of .368, as he has an xwOBA of .336, but that’d still constitute a successful bounce back after two mostly forgettable seasons. However, even if his production erodes, the first two months of the season have taught us a lesson: Hitting the ball hard, even the other way, is the key to hitting.