The expectations placed on George Springer have never been higher.
As a college player at Connecticut, they were already on the rise. After the Houston Astros drafted him 11th overall in 2011, those expectations again grew, and by the time he finished his second full minor league season in 2013 with a .303/.411/.600 line to go with a 1.010 OPS, 37 home runs and 108 RBI, he was a potential star.
Last year, Springer started fulfilling that potential as a major league slugger. Now, with the start of this season less than a month away, expectations surrounding the 25-year-old Springer have completely spiked.
The reason: His breakout 2014 with the Astros has put him on the brink of superstardom. Hitting 20 home runs in 78 games and compiling an .804 OPS as a rookie will do that in a game starved for offense.
“Success definitely breeds confidence,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch told reporters Thursday. “But ... you ride that momentum when you can, and dwell on it just enough to take the good out of it without the undue pressure.”
That pressure is going to be difficult for Springer to hide from in his sophomore season.
He started 2014 at Triple-A Oklahoma City, but after just 13 games the Astros realized Springer needed no more minor league seasoning. As the sport's No. 18 overall prospect prior to last season, as rated by Baseball America, Springer hit .353/.459/.647 with a 1.106 OPS and three home runs in those 13 contests.
It was enough for the Astros to call up their top major league-ready prospect despite no realistic expectations to contend.
“Offensively, he's been heating up the last week or so, and we want to get a guy when he's hot,” Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow said upon Springer’s mid-April promotion, according to MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart.
The hot stretch did not bleed into the big leagues right away. Springer compiled a .180 average with 23 strikeouts, five walks and no home runs through his first 15 games (67 plate appearances).
But as the season crept into May, Springer found a stride, birthing this new edition of sky-high expectations.
Starting with a quiet 1-for-3 day on May 5, Springer proceeded to hit .333/.434/.762 with 10 homers and four doubles in 22 games. The league named him the AL's Rookie of the Month for May, and while his slash line dipped, he still flashed his trademark power with six more homers in June and four more in July despite playing just 13 games in that final month.
A quad strain cut off Springer’s season on July 20, an injury that he tweaked during his rehab stint in August. He ended up ranking second among all rookies with those 20 home runs, third with 51 RBI and fifth with his .804 OPS.
There were also obvious flaws. And it is those, if not remedied, that could stall his climb to becoming baseball’s next young superstar.
Springer struck out 114 times last year, or once in about every three plate appearances, and hit .231/.336/.468. Also keep in mind that a near-league-average .294 BABIP helped his batting average, and his swinging-strike percentage (18.2) was second-worst in the AL among players with at least 300 plate appearances. His overall contact rate of 61 percent was worst in the league.
Plus he did not take full advantage of his power because he hit more ground balls (45.4 percent) than fly balls (39.3).
George Springer has 5 games with 4+ strikeouts this year. The whole rest of MLB has just 89, and no other player has more than 2.
— High Heat Stats MLB (@HighHeatStats) July 19, 2014
I love George Springer but want to see him cut back on the strikeouts, career to date: 239 strikeouts per 162 games.
— Ace of MLB Stats (@AceballStats) July 10, 2014
If those trends continue, Springer’s value could greatly diminish over the course of a full season. That will be especially true if his BABIP fluctuates downward, which it can from year to year.
The failures are something Springer understands, and while they might have frustrated him at times, he believes they are part of his path to eventual success.
“I wouldn't change a thing,” Springer told The Associated Press. “In order to succeed, you have to fail first, and I think I was able to learn from the failure and the hardships. I learned a lot about myself and about the game.
“My dad used to say that adversity introduces a man to himself, and that really stuck with me. It's not about how you fail, but how you handle it.”
As the Astros’ rebuild continues to take its eventual form, Springer is already establishing himself as a major part of it. While players like Carlos Correa, Mark Appel and Colin Moran, among other prospects, are still making their way to the big leagues, the Astros were 29-30 in Springer’s final 59 games—starting with the game he hit his first homer—showing that he is a major part of their success now and in the future.
All quotes, unless otherwise specified, have been acquired firsthand by Anthony Witrado. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.
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