Astros George Springer continues tear, dominating life in general
By Todd Salem
There was much made of George Springer’s call to the majors earlier this season by the Houston Astros. He was widely regarded as one of the top five prospects in baseball and someone who would surely rake whenever he got a chance to hit at the highest level. With Houston not going anywhere for another season, holding him back until June and delaying his arbitration year was a possibility, but instead, the Astros called him up a few weeks into April.
Right from the start, things went the way of Mike Trout when Trout was first called up. Springer wasn’t hitting a lick and wasn’t running either. He finished April with a .182 batting average and .218 slugging percentage. It seemed as though Houston not waiting was the mistake, one that no one was predicting.
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However, as with many young players, like Mike Trout for example, these things take time. It didn’t take a whole lot of time for Springer though to get his bearings at the MLB level. After a .480 OPS for the month of April, Springer’s May OPS is already over 1.000 and rising. He has hit six home runs in his last seven ballgames and has a 10-game hitting streak. There is nothing stopping George Springer.
The lone knock against him is he is still not running, tallying just one steal so far this season. For a man that stole 45 bases in the minor leagues in 2013, this was supposed to be yet another strength. Of course, just like hitting, running and timing steals has a learning curve. He has already been caught twice as he’s still getting used to reading major league pitchers.
Nevertheless, Springer’s future looks immensely bright. Perhaps he will not reach the heights of Mike Trout, but he sure is off to a reasonable start.