Blue Jays: George Springer’s renaissance highlighted in massive series against the Yankees

Photo credit: © John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images

Jul 4, 2025, 08:00 EDTUpdated: Jul 4, 2025, 07:05 EDT

In 1997, it was the Summer of George. Eighteen years later, it’s the Summer of George again.

Of course, the first Summer of George depicted the fictional exploits of Seinfeld character George Costanza after being fired by the New York Yankees. The current day Summer of George has been the very real resurgence of Toronto Blue Jays outfielder George Springer, who after struggling last season has been the best hitter on the team in 2025 (sorry Tyler Heineman). There are more similarities between the neurotic, self-loathing Costanza and the professional baseball player, Springer, than one would think.

Costanza, often insecure and self-sabotaging, was wholly unhappy and unsuccessful before becoming unemployed. It took hitting that low to inspire him to make changes and embrace what life had to offer. Springer too reached a low in 2024, posting the worst qualified season of his career in almost every major offensive category and his first as a below league-average hitter by wRC+ (94). He even spent stretches as the worst-qualified hitter in the majors.

This season Springer’s made a slew of changes and has seen a renaissance at the plate. Fresh off the biggest game of his Blue Jays career, a two-home run seven-RBI Canada Day showing against the bitter rival Yankees – during which he hit the second-ever Canada Day grand slam in Blue Jays history – Springer leads the team with 15 home runs, an .891 OPS and a 149 wRC+.

MLB

@MLB

·Follow

GEORGE SPRINGER GRAND SLAM HAPPY #CANADADAY 😤

Watch on X

9:51 PM · Jul 1, 2025

6.0K

Read 186 replies

The Numbers

It’s a stark contrast to his performance last season.


Stat	2024	2025
AVG	.220	.281
OBP	.303	.378
SLG	.371	.513
OPS	.674	.891
wRC+	94	149

The year-to-year increase in his slash line is top 10 in every category. Springer is also top five in increases by quality of contact measures such as xISO and xWOBA on contact. These stats are calculated based on the exit velocity and launch angle of the ball, with the probability of a single, double, triple and home run being assigned to each batted ball based on comparable batted balls in the Statcast era.

He’s hitting the ball harder; his average exit velocity and hard-hit percentage have jumped from the 20th and 34th percentile to 53rd and 68th, respectively. But where the biggest change has been his launch angle, with the percentage he hits the ball in the sweet spot – between eight and 32 degrees – jumping from the sixth percentile to 96th, the third largest increase in baseball.

So how did Springer turn his career around in his age-35 season after appearing destined for decline?

With wholesale changes across the board, from where he hits in the order and how much he plays in the field to adjustments to his approach and mechanics.

Mashing in the middle

Before this season, 4609 of Springer’s 6104 plate appearances (76 per cent) had come in the leadoff spot. While he was moved down in the order amid his struggles last season, he still hit leadoff 74 percent of the time in 2024. He is yet to lead the Blue Jays’ lineup in 2025.

How much impact, if any, this has had on Springer’s production is impossible to quantify. And due to his increase in OBP and pitches per plate appearance, his offensive profile fits the mould of a leadoff hitter better than anyone on the team. Yet given how well he’s performing hitting in the middle of the lineup, it’s understandable if the team is hesitant to mess with a good thing. When Springer is happy, the Blue Jays are thriving.

More rest, more home runs

The other significant change in Springer’s deployment has been his increase in DH days. In 2025, he’s played only 41 games in the field and been the self-declared “offensive specialist” 37 times. In his previous two seasons in Toronto, Springer had played 257 of 298 games in the field (86%) compared to the near-even split he’s seeing now. While he’s had a much better offensive track record when also playing a defensive position throughout his career, Springer’s DH vs. non-DH splits are close to even this season, leaning in favour of the days he’s off his feet, particularly when it comes to power.

	Springer – 2025
Stat	DH	Non-DH
HR	12	3
OBP	.379	.380
SLG	.574	.463
OPS	.953	.842
wRC+	163	137

The six-foot-one outfielder was originally moved from centre to right in 2023 to mitigate wear and tear on his aging body. Few outfielders of his size, or larger, continue playing centre into their mid-to-late 30s. It was effective as Springer averaged 149.5 games per season over the last two, compared to 105.5 over his first two campaigns in Toronto.

Correlation isn’t causation, so it’s hard to quantify the exact impact this has had on his production. If anything, it certainly hasn’t hurt to have Springer off his feet more, and the 12-year MLB veteran has embraced it.

Daddy hacks

When it comes to approach, Springer is often swinging harder when he does take a hack but has been less aggressive all-around. He’s swinging less both at pitches in the zone and overall. Over four percent less in both categories than last season, a sizable difference.

He’s been laying off pitches he can’t drive, whether they’re in the zone or not, waiting until he gets the offering he’s looking for and teeing off with his A-swing. New hitting coach David Popkins’ philosophy has placed a great deal of emphasis on players getting off their best swings, and Springer has been one of the main subjects of that adjustment.

Springer’s fast swing rate – the percentage of his swings that are 75 m.p.h. or greater – is up to 33.6% from 22.3% in 2024. Because of that, he’s whiffing nearly three percent more often. Yet his strikeout rate has only increased by 1.2% and is still below league average. Trading that slight increase in Ks for the surge in both results and peripherals we outlined above is a no-brainer.

Mechanically sound

When it comes to the mechanics that are making it all possible, Statcast’s new swing data tells us that the width of Springer’s stance, his swing path tilt and ideal attack angle rate have all increased.

The first two have allowed Springer to flatten out his bat path, resulting in the ideal attack angle percentage jumping. This explains the massive jump in how often he finds the sweet spot with his launch angle. His groundball rate dropped from 49.8% last year to 38.2% in 2025, one of the largest drops across the Major Leagues.