PITTSBURGH, Pa. — George Springer doesn’t appreciate being referred to as a designated hitter. That’s too limiting. He prefers “offensive player.” It’s not like he just hits.
He runs the bases, too. Sometimes stealing them, other times advancing on them opportunistically, often making aggressive, savvy decisions of when to challenge a defence or not while facing 50-50 scenarios.
This season, when a single’s been hit while Springer’s occupying first, he’s either reached third or scored 11 times, the most on the Blue Jays. He also leads the team in scoring from first on doubles. And he trails only Ernie Clement in scoring from second on singles.
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The Toronto Blue Jays go for the series win against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday. Watch the game on Sportsnet or Sportsnet+ starting at 12:35 p.m. ET / 9:35 a.m. PT.
Meanwhile, he’s taken 12 bases this season, which includes advances on fly balls, passed balls, wild pitches, balks, and defensive indifference. That ranks within MLB’s 85th percentile. He’s tied in that category with young, heady baserunners such as Jackson Merrill, Steven Kwan, and Alek Thomas.
Where he’s better than those three is stealing bases. Springer’s 13-for-13 in this, his age-35 season. Most ballplayers run less as they age. Not Springer, who’s attempting steals more often and more successfully in his 30s than he did in his 20s:
George Springer stealing bases
Age 24-29 seasons (744 GP) — 47 SB, 29 CS, 61.8 per cent
Age 30-35 seasons (666 GP) — 68 SB, 11 CS, 86.1 per cent
Oh, and he can still bang. Tuesday, amidst a 2-for-4 night during a 7-3 Blue Jays win over the Pittsburgh Pirates, Springer hit his 20th home run of the season, a 423-foot no-doubter to dead centre. That’s one more long ball than he hit in 2024 and gives him nine 20-homer campaigns. He’s on pace for 26, which would be the most he’s hit in a year since 2019.
Go revisit what people were saying about Springer at the end of spring training. Washed, cooked, a problem. That was less than five months ago. But what Springer told anyone who would listen during Blue Jay camp turned out to be true — he was working on a suite of adjustments and using Grapefruit League play to gain a feel for them. He felt great coming out of camp. He thought he was well-positioned to have a productive season.
After Tuesday’s game, that production looks like a slash line of .292/.383/.514 with a 150 wRC+. Only six qualified hitters have a higher OPS. His Baseball Savant page is overheating. An 89th percentile mark or better in chase, sweet-spot, and barrel rates. A 92nd percentile rank or greater in expected batting average, on-base average, and slugging percentage.
He has been, without hyperbole, one of the best offensive players in the game this season. If he keeps this up, he’s getting down-ballot MVP votes. And on nights like Tuesday, when the Blue Jays’ bedrock Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was out of the lineup with a left hamstring issue, his presence atop the order, working consistently competitive plate appearances and propelling an offence, was imperative.
So, about Guerrero. He’s said to be feeling better after aggravating the hamstring issue he’d been quietly carrying for some time while making a first-base stretch in the splits Monday night, but wasn’t available off Toronto’s bench Tuesday.
Considering Wednesday’s game starts at 12:35 p.m. ET, it’s possible he doesn’t play in that one, either. Add in Thursday’s off day and the Blue Jays have an opportunity to steal Guerrero 72+ hours of rest in the thick of summer’s dog days. It’s like he gets a second mini all-star break. Except he never gets a true all-star break because he’s an annual participant.
For as much as playing without Guerrero lowers the Blue Jays’ ceiling this week, allowing him to more thoroughly recover from the hamstring issue and whatever other ailments he’s carrying could raise it over the rest of the season. This is the kind of luxury a five-game division lead and nine-game cushion from the post-season cut-off allows. It isn’t urgent for Guerrero to play through pain against a 20-games-below-.500 team. The Blue Jays still have favourable odds to win without him.
Particularly when Springer’s doing what he’s doing. He reached on a hit by pitch, stole second, and scored in the first inning; he hit that towering, two-run homer off a two-strike slider in the second; he worked a 3-1 count and laced a 104-mph single to left in the fourth.
And the rest of Toronto’s offence followed his lead against Pirates starter Mitch Keller, creating opportunity after opportunity as it worked him for five runs on seven hits and three walks over his 3.1 innings.
Truly, it ought to have been more, as Alejandro Kirk got caught running with his head down in the first, making a needless out on the basepaths. And Clement popped up a bunt attempt with runners on first and second and none out in the third, which Pirates catcher Joey Bart wisely let fall in front of him before beginning a 2-5-4 double play.
Fortunately, opportunities were not scarce in a game the Blue Jays led from pole to pole, and Kirk atoned for his miscue with a loud, two-run homer that he watched over the right-centre field wall in the seventh.
Max Scherzer, meanwhile, turned in his fifth consecutive quality start and established a season-high in pitches with 104. He sat 94 with his heater, forced a bevy of mistimed swings with a slider that’s been improving every time out, and threw his hardest pitch of the night in his sixth and final inning.
If not for an inefficient first three innings, which led to him beginning his fourth at 58 pitches, Scherzer could’ve pitched deeper. But the Blue Jays didn’t need all-time great Scherzer on Tuesday. They just needed a good enough Scherzer. And he provided.
