“She definitely doesn’t love all the bumps and bruises I come home with. It can be scary,” France said. “Helmets have saved me a few times. The worst was one that hit the bill, before I started wearing the [face-protecting] flap. One inch lower, and my eye would be gone.”
He credits — or maybe blames — his college teammates at San Diego State, where he racked up 48 plunkings in three seasons, for his willingness to accept that risk.
“We were praised for not getting out of the way, kind of standing in there and wearing the pitch for the good of the team. You know, take your base,” France said. “It stems back to that, and I’ve just kind of carried that my whole career.”
His employers have noticed.
“He’s built like a pit bull. And he apparently can handle it,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “Adding him to Willi [Castro] and Matt Wallner [who was hit 16 times in 2024] and putting him in that group — we like guys that can hit and draw walks, but if you’re going to continually get on base [by] getting whacked, so be it. It’s worked out OK for him.”
Mostly, yes, though there have been exceptions. Last June, for instance, a back-foot slider from Royals righthander Daniel Lynch banged into his right heel. France surpassed Edgar Martinez’s Mariners-leading career total on that pitch, but it also fractured the bone, an injury that, while it sidelined him for only 10 days, essentially fractured his ability to hit; his OPS was only .621 from that point on.