Even after a seven-run outbreak on Wednesday, just four teams have scored fewer runs than the Toronto Blue Jays in 2025, and each of the team’s starting position players is performing below expectations — with the exception of George Springer.
Springer is off to a stellar start in his age-35 season, slashing .306/.406/.482 with a wRC+ (157) that would be a career-high if it held up. Although it’s fair to expect some regression, the veteran’s expected wOBA of .363 is his best since 2020, and his average exit velocity of 92.6 m.p.h. is impressive for a player who’s never topped 90 m.p.h. in a full season.
Springer isn’t providing the home-run punch the Blue Jays offence lacks, but he’s been a productive presence in the middle of the lineup. Considering his age and the fact that his wRC+ has declined in six straight seasons prior to 2025, it’s surprising to see him as Toronto’s top offensive bright spot.
The veteran has emphasized the re-emergence of his aggressive A-Swing as a driver for his success, claiming that in the last couple of years, “there may have not been some A-swings in a lot of at-bats.”
His lack of violent swings resulted in subdued contact in recent years. The outfielder’s isolated slugging between 2023 and 2024 ranked 91st among 115 qualified hitters, a brutal ranking for a guy who was 11th by the same metric between 2019 and 2022.
That level of power is probably never coming back, but his .176 ISO is solidly above league-average (.150), and the intentionality of his swings seems to be playing a role. Springer’s average bat speed (72.2 m.p.h.) is similar to both 2023 (72.7 m.p.h.) and 2024 (71.9 m.p.h.), but he’s unleashing more fast swings (75+ m.p.h.) and squaring the ball up more often.
|
Season |
Fast swing rate |
Squared-up rate on contact |
|
2023 |
24.5% |
26.7% |
|
2024 |
22.3% |
33% |
|
2025 |
31.3% |
40% |
Normally, these are opposing forces.
Hitters with fewer fast swings tend to square the ball up more (think Ernie Clement). Guys who swing really hard usually square it up less (think Addison Barger). Players who excel in both areas (like Juan Soto or Vladimir Guerrero Jr.) are almost always stars.
Seeing a 35-year-old improve by getting off more quality swings and squaring the ball up more is surprising, but it goes back to the diverse types of cuts the outfielder is taking. Over the last two seasons, the veteran’s average bat speed reflected the type of swing he was taking most of the time. In 2025, he’s taken far more big swings and more slow, under-control swings.
The MLB bat speed average is approximately 72 m.p.h. The chart below shows his rate of swings either five-plus m.p.h. above or below that number.
|
Time span |
≥77 m.p.h. swing rate |
≤67 m.p.h. swing rate |
|
2023-24 |
6.3% |
7.6% |
|
2025 |
13.8% |
21.7% |
To be clear, taking more soft swings isn’t generally a positive, but they have their uses to stay alive in two-strike counts or in situations where putting the ball in play is particularly advantageous.
For example, Springer used one to fight off a 2-2 pitch right on the corner on Wednesday night.
These cuts can even be effective when Springer ends up reaching for something well off the plate.
The ability to break out this type of swing helps explain why the veteran’s strikeout rate (23.5 per cent) isn’t out of control even though he has an eighth-percentile whiff rate (33.3 per cent). It’s easier to take big, aggressive swings that are more likely to miss the ball when you have a good defensive hack in your back pocket.
On the other hand, the advantages of fast swings are intuitive. The average 80-plus m.p.h. swing yields a .665 SLG and 52 per cent hard-hit rate. That’s not a threshold Springer is going to consistently exceed, but his A-Swing can get there, like it did on this double down the line.
The outfielder doesn’t want to be using a homogenous approach where all of his swings come with roughly the same ferocity, regardless of the situation. While Springer has maintained an average bat speed right near 72 m.p.h. in each of the years bat tracking data has been available, on swings between 70-74, he’s put up a wOBA of .302 — which is the same number as Alejandro Kirk managed in his 2023 and 2024 seasons (.303).
Even at Springer’s age, the bar for his bat should always be higher than a glove-first catcher. One of the ways he’s clearing that standard by a wide margin is by letting his biggest swings fly, while keeping his modest hacks in reserve for when he needs them.
