Padres’ Ty France matched Bryce Harper’s OPS and still got a Silver Slugger snub

Ty France finished with the same OPS as Bryce Harper and Rafael Devers. Apparently, that still wasn’t enough to get the Padres first baseman into the Silver Slugger finalist conversation. Hey, first base was crowded in the National League. But it’s fair to question that omission. France produced an offensive season that belongs in this discussion, even if his home run total wasn’t going to jump off the page first.

He slashed .295/.363/.502 with 21 home runs, 72 RBIs and an .865 OPS. Those numbers give Padres fans something more substantial than a familiar name to complain about. France earned a closer look with his bat. Leaving him off the finalist list deserves one, too.

Ty France’s offensive production belonged in the Silver Slugger discussion

The Harper and Devers comparison is fair because it puts France’s season in recognizable company. All three finished with an .865 OPS. They reached that number differently, and matching it doesn’t make their seasons interchangeable. But it does make dismissing France’s candidacy a little more difficult.

France also finished ahead of Matt Olson’s .823 OPS and Alec Burleson’s .819. His .502 slugging percentage matched Olson’s and exceeded Harper’s .485. 

We don’t need to pretend OPS settles every conversation. It gives us a starting point, and France’s starting point was right alongside some of the position’s most dangerous hitters.

France also put those numbers together in 133 games, giving him fewer opportunities to pile up the totals that tend to grab attention. His 21 homers and 72 RBIs deserve that context, especially when Harper and Olson each played all 162.

Playing more games strengthens their cases. But France’s .363 on-base percentage and .865 OPS show how productive he was when he played. We can give the others credit for durability without treating his shorter season as an automatic disqualifier.

The argument against France is real, but so is his snub case

The strongest objection is volume. France had 440 at-bats. Harper had 577, Devers had 558 and Olson had 625. Sustaining production across more opportunities matters, and those hitters accumulated counting stats France couldn’t match.

Olson hit 41 homers. Devers hit 37. Harper hit 29. Burleson drove in 116 runs. Jake Bauers paired 26 homers with an .874 OPS. There were legitimate reasons for voters to favor other first basemen. That keeps this from being an obvious robbery. France wasn’t the runaway choice to win the award, and arguing otherwise would weaken a perfectly reasonable case.

But a finalist nomination is a lower bar than winning. France’s combination of on-base ability and power made him a credible candidate, even with fewer opportunities.

France didn’t need us to round his production up into an awards argument. An .865 OPS already gave him one.

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