Mariners’ Ty France finally named All-Star, replacing Mike Trout

The Mariners’ Ty France is officially an All-Star.

Hey MLB, what took so long?

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France has been named a replacement on the American League roster for Tuesday’s annual midsummer classic, taking the spot of Angels superstar Mike Trout, who has been dealing with back spasms in recent days. The news came just minutes before the red-hot Mariners took on the Rangers on Sunday, looking to win their 14th straight game before heading into the four-day All-Star break.

The Mariners first baseman entered Sunday with a .306 batting average, .837 OPS, 10 home runs and 47 RBIs in 78 games this season. He celebrated the news during the game against Texas with home run No. 11, which was maybe his most massive shot to date in 2022.

Become an All-Star ✅
Hit a HR ✅ pic.twitter.com/wcdIALzz5g

— MLB (@MLB) July 17, 2022

Among AL hitters to play at least 60 percent of their games at first base, France is tops in batting average, second in hits (95), tied for third in RBIs, fifth in total bases (143), second in bWAR (2.8) and fWAR (2.1), and second in wRC+ (146).

France was one of two finalists at first base for the AL along with Toronto’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who won the fan vote to earn the first spot at the position on the roster. The initial All-Star reserves were then announced on Sunday, July 10, with France one of the more notable snubs. That was especially glaring with Minnesota’s Luis Arráez, a very deserving All-Star but a player who splits his time between three infield positions, taking up a spot at first base on the AL team. What followed was a frustrating week where France was continually picked over, usually due to MLB making choices where players unavailable to play in the game were replaced by others that played the same position.

His Mariners teammates were plenty excited for France when manager Scott Servais announced that he had finally been named to the AL squad Sunday morning.

The whole squad was fired up when Ty was named an All-Star ⭐ pic.twitter.com/TT3tO6bcQm

— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) July 17, 2022

France, who turned 28 last Wednesday, will get a bit of a homecoming as the All-Star festivities will take place at Dodger Stadium, which is just 20 miles from where France played his high school ball in West Covina, Calif.

In late June, France talked to Seattle Sports’ Mike Salk Show about the possibility of playing in the All-Star Game in Southern California.

“It would mean a lot. Not only being my first All Star game, but it’s in LA, (my) hometown,” France said. “Being able to experience that with family and friends would be some something really special. And to be able to represent for the city of Seattle, we’ve put in a lot of hard work to get to this point, and, to be able to go out there, it would mean a lot.”

France joins rookie Julio Rodríguez as Mariners on the AL All-Star roster, marking the first time since 2018 that the M’s have more than one representative. France is also the first Mariners first baseman to be named an All-Star since John Olerud in 2001.

Rodríguez will take part in the Home Run Derby at 5 p.m. Monday, and both he and France will be reserves for the AL in the 5 p.m. Tuesday All-Star Game. Both events will air live on Seattle Sports Station 710 AM, SeattleSports.com and the Seattle Sports app.

The All-Star festivities at Dodger Stadium began Saturday with the annual Futures Game, which included Mariners pitching prospect Emerson Hancock striking out all three batters he faced to help the AL win 6-4.

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