Padres Sign Former Blue Jay, Gold Glover & All-Star

The San Diego Padres have remained busy adding players to the roster as spring training gets underway. The latest is former All-Star and Gold Glover Ty France.

The Padres have signed 1B Ty France to a minor league contract, per @dennistlin.

France was named a gold glover in 2025, hitting .257 with a .681 OPS between Minnesota and Toronto. pic.twitter.com/ze5rSLksKo
— SleeperPadres (@SleeperPadres) February 16, 2026

It's a minor league deal for France with an invite to spring training. With the signing, France is back where it all began for him. San Diego drafted him in the 34th round of the 2015 MLB Draft, and he started his career with the Padres in the 2019 and 2020 seasons.

Although he became more of a bit player for the Toronto Blue Jays after they acquired him at the trade deadline last year, he showed enough in 101 games at first base for the Minnesota Twins (and another 23 with the Jays) to earn his first Gold Glove award.

The 31-year-old hasn't had an OPS in the .700s since 2023, but the year before that he was an All-Star, rapping out 20 homers with 83 RBIs and a 125 OPS+ with the Seattle Mariners. In 2021, he had similar run production while batting .291 with a .368 OBP and a 128 OPS+.

France is a strong contact hitter with a .334 on-base percentage through seven major league seasons.

The Friars are likely bringing him in as a strong defensive backup for first base, as they are apparently going to be using another recent new recruit, Nick Castellanos, there quite a bit.

The Pads also added Miguel Andujar this offseason to serve as DH. And with Castellanos's defense in the outfield less than ideal, he will have to play a lot of first. Enter France as protection.