Opinion | Blue Jays’ George Springer hopes this is the year he stays healthy

Optimism runs rampant during every spring training. Front office executives from across Major League Baseball speak positively about their chances for the upcoming season and players continuously talk about being in the best shape of the lives.

It’s a time when everyone in the sport is allowed to dream before the losses pile up and injuries begin to take a toll. For the next six weeks, every team finds itself on even footing and every athlete has a reason to believe this might be the year.

Sometimes these narratives are forced. Just because a guy reports to camp 10 pounds lighter doesn’t mean his numbers are going to skyrocket. The same theory applies to starters with a new pitch or a reliever with an altered delivery.

Then there are examples like George Springer when it’s much easier to understand the logic behind all the positivity. After dealing with a litany of health issues over the last two years, the Blue Jays’ all-star outfielder is feeling 100 per cent healthy following off-season surgery.

In 2021, there was an oblique injury, a strained right quadriceps muscle and a left knee sprain. Last year, it was a lingering right elbow issue, and after a violent collision with Bo Bichette during Game 2 of the American League Wild Card Series, a concussion and knee injury were added to the list.

There’s no guarantee some of those issues won’t resurface this season, but for now Springer is building up for the year without any restrictions. In his words: “It feels good to feel good” and the Jays hope it stays that way.

“I’m not going to complain about it now, but it wasn’t fun,” said Springer, who underwent surgery to remove bone chips from his right elbow in October. “It’s not fun to play with anything that’s bothering you. I learned fast that it’s really hard to play baseball with a bad arm. But it’s all good. It’s in the past, it is what it is. I’m just glad I was able to get through it and contribute to some degree.”

One might assume that a transition from centre field to right will help Springer stay healthy. He will have less ground to cover in a corner outfield spot and there won’t be quite as many balls his in his direction. It stands to reason that the less time Springer spends running around, the fresher his legs will remain.

Except that’s not why the Jays changed his position. The Jays signed veteran Kevin Kiermaier to a one-year deal not to keep Springer healthy, but to improve their defence.

It’s a transition Springer has made before, both with the Houston Astros and last season with the Jays when Bradley Zimmer entered as a late-game replacement. So, the Jays are already familiar with how Springer plays right and it’s very similar to his approach to centre: It’s all-out, all the time.

“I know people have done studies on that and they talk about when guys hit a certain age and get out of the middle of the outfield,” Jays manager John Schneider said. “But George has one speed, whether he’s in centre or right. It may help, it may not. He’ll probably make some more throws in right. A little bit less ground to cover too … hopefully it works out in our favour.”

The Jays need Springer’s bat more than ever. The decision to start Kiermaier drastically improves their defence, but it comes at the expense of run production. Instead of having Silver Slugger Teoscar Hernandez and his 30-plus homer bat in tow, the Jays committed to a Platinum Glove winner, who has produced an on-base plus slugging percentage above .700 just once over the last five years.

The hope is that a healthy Springer will pick up the slack. When he’s playing without limitations, the 33-year-old has enough skills to rank among the best hitters in the game. When he’s battling through something physically, it leads to a much bigger grind at the plate.

Last year, the elbow issue impacted his swing and limited the amount of work Springer could do before games. He still finished with 25 homers and 76 RBIs, but in the lead-up to last year’s stint on the injured list, Springer hit just .227 in June and .225 in July, well below his career average of .269.

“There were days when it would go from a one to a 10 and there would be days it would go 10 to one, you just didn’t know,” Springer said. “That was half the battle, just not understanding. There would be swings where it looked like I was going to fall over and then there were swings where you wouldn’t think anything was wrong. It was just one of those weird, odd things to go through.”

Hopefully those issues are in the past because the Jays not only require his bat, they also require him to play the field. Last season, the Jays were able to give Springer a lot of time off from defensive duties but still have his presence in their lineup because they didn’t have a full-time DH.

That won’t be the case this season after veteran Brandon Belt was inked to a one-year deal. The plan is for Belt to get the bulk of his reps at DH while occasionally giving Vladimir Guerrero Jr. a day off at first. If Springer can hit but can’t field because of injuries, Belt would become little more than a lefty bat off the bench.

The Jays would like to avoid that scenario and instead get a full year out of Springer in right. Based on his medical history, that might be asking a lot, but hey, this is the time of year when anything is possible and right now this is a ball club that’s dreaming about 140-plus games from Springer in a corner outfield spot.

SHARE: