Springer aids Blue Jays' late-season push with big offensive outing vs. Royals

TORONTO – Much like the Toronto Blue Jays as a whole, George Springer is in the midst of a season that’s tough to wrap your mind around.

At 135 games and counting, he’s on pace for the heaviest workload of his career since 2016, when he appeared in all 162 regular-season contests for the Houston Astros. His 1,004.2 innings in the outfield are his most since logging 1,108 in 2018. Few players in the majors hit the ball as hard as him, with his 115.9 m.p.h. max exit velocity ranking in the top three per cent of the league, and though his overall slug is down, his sweet-spot rate and hard-hit percentage are right around his career norms. His average exit velo and expected slug are down a touch from last season, and off a little more from his career average, but still well above the big-league midpoint.

There isn’t much there to dislike.

Still, Springer endured a slow start to the season, picked it up in May and June and then went ice-cold from June 29-Aug. 3, when he batted .170/.261/.255 in 119 plate appearances over 26 games with just two homers and eight RBIs, a spell that pushed him out of the leadoff spot.

Since then, however, Springer has steadily turned it on, with Saturday afternoon’s two-homer, three-hit, four-RBI effort in a 5-1 win over the Kansas City Royals his latest set of contributions to the Blue Jays’ late-season push.

He’s now batting .322/.403/.548 in his last 30 games, with six home runs, eight doubles, 21 RBIs and 22 runs, providing precisely the type of impact expected from him at a pivotal time.

“George, when he’s hot, can just take over the game and he kind of singlehandedly beat them today,” said Kevin Gausman, who delivered one of his finest outings of the season with eight innings of one-run, two-hit, 10-strikeout ball. “Obviously he's had his struggles this year, but it's good to see him get going. He's a huge spark for us and always has been. We definitely rely on him a lot.”

As Gausman shoved on the mound and helped save the bullpen, Springer homered leading off the fourth to open the scoring, delivered a go-ahead two-run single in the fifth and then helped pad the lead in the seventh with another solo shot in his first multi-homer game of the season.

Along with a Cavan Biggio RBI double in the sixth before a crowd of 41,443, Springer’s big day helped the Blue Jays (79-63) pull even with the Seattle Mariners (79-63), 7-5 losers at Tampa Bay, for the American League’s second wild-card spot. They’re both two games up on the Texas Rangers (76-64), pending the result of their game against the visiting Oakland Athletics.

“We’re doing what we need to do,” Springer said of the Blue Jays' current run of eight wins in 11 games, adding later: “This is just a fun time to play. We're obviously right in the middle of it. You have to enjoy the moment. You've got to slow down and just breathe and have fun. It's fun to be here. It's a good spot to be in. But obviously the job's not done.”

Far from and next week’s four-game series against the Rangers beginning Monday at Rogers Centre could play an outsized role in the fate of both clubs.

To that end, both teams will want to be at their best and having Springer continue to deliver from the leadoff spot, where he’s been since Bo Bichette and Matt Chapman hit the injured list on Aug. 28, is exactly what the Blue Jays need.

On Saturday, he ensured they managed without both Bichette, who was rested after leading the way in Friday’s 5-4 win in his return from the injured list, and Brandon Belt, who is still trying to get past some back tightness and a stomach bug.

Springer's first homer came off a slider from Zack Greinke and then in the fifth, when the Blue Jays put men on second and third to open the frame but then made two outs, he pounced on another slider, lining it up the middle to make it a 3-1 game. The second homer, this one on the eighth pitch he saw from lefty Angel Zerpa, was on yet another slider.

Coming into the day, Springer was batting just .210 against breaking balls compared to .288 on fastballs and .270 on off-speed pitches, underlining the way he’s locked in.

The difference between now and the July drought?

“Not trying to do too much, understanding who I am as a player, understanding who's up behind me,” he said. “At times, you kind of tend to press a little bit because you want to succeed. It's not success on an individual level. It's success for us as a team. So when things don't go your way, you always nitpick and all that stuff. But for me it's just about slowing down and doing what I know how to do. If I don't get the job done, I have the utmost faith in everybody behind me.”

The Blue Jays haven’t had Springer, Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who was 2-for-4 and cleverly pulled away his left arm and reached around with his right to evade a tag score from first on Biggio’s double, all hot at the same time.

If they do go off together, that would certainly smooth the path to the post-season.

“I've said it before, that as George goes, we go and then you add Bo and Vlad and the rest of the crew down below him,” said manager John Schneider. “Guys feed off of him. He's a high-energy guy and always has one speed. When you see one of your really dynamic players going out and performing really well, it just rubs off on everyone else.”

Springer’s reputation of delivering in September and October — for his career, he has an .867 OPS in the final month of the season, second only to an OPS of .921 in May —will only help there but he’s also healthier this year than he was in 2022, when he battled through an elbow issue all season long and had surgery on it after the season.

The 135 games he’s currently at is the most he’s played since consecutive seasons of 140 in 2017 and '18, a durability that’s been an underappreciated asset this season.

“It's exciting,” Springer said of his workload. “The goal is to be available every day and making sure I can take care of my body, be in a position to be available, a lot of credit goes to the strength staff and medical staff that has been able to address the little small things that have popped up here and there. But overall, it's just important to be available and I'm happy about it.”

That’s also made this season feel like less of a grind.

“Obviously when you are going through some stuff, it's not ideal, but being in a good spot has been great,” Springer said. “Every year is different, so you can't really put anything on it. I just know it's nice to come in and not have to be concerned about something or whatever it is, knock on wood. I can just get prepared for the game and go play.”

Which is precisely what he’s done, delivering at a time the Blue Jays need him to do just that.