A look at George Springer’s 2024 season.
Coming into 2024 we were three years into Springer’s six-year contract. He had put up OPS numbers of .907, .814, and .732. So we were a bit worried about this year.
We had reason to be worried:
| Age | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | CS | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | OPS+ | GDP | HBP | SH | SF | IBB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 34 | 145 | 614 | 545 | 74 | 120 | 19 | 3 | 19 | 56 | 16 | 1 | 60 | 115 | .220 | .303 | .371 | .674 | 92 | 16 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
Baseball Reference has him at a 1.2 WAR, FanGraphs also is at 1.2, giving him a value of $9.5 million to the Jays.
He had a wOBA of .298 (down from .320 last year) and a wRC+ of 95 (down from 104).
Compared to 2022, Springer’s walk rate was up (9.8 from 8.8%), and his strikeout rate was up a bit (18.7% from 18.3).
His line-drive rate was down (16.4% from 20.4), the ground ball rate was about the up (50.7% from 44.2), and the fly-ball rate was down slightly (32.9% from 35.4). More of his fly balls left the park (13.4% from 12.1%).
George’s hard contact rate was down (30.8% from 33.4), and the soft contact rate was up (17.1% from 15.9).
Springer’s BABIP was .245 (.291 last year).
Like last year George hit RHP (.230/.303/.398) better than LHP (.187/.303/.276). You would think he was a left-handed batter.
He hit slightly better at home (.225/307/.376) than on the road (.215/.300/365). Last year he, and most of the team hit better on the road.
George hit .219/.326/.429 with RISP (better than he did with the bases empty, .216/.287/.342, another indictment against him batting leadoff).
He hit better in the first half (.225/.309/.374) than in the second half (.213/.295/.366).
He hit better in the first half (.269/.330/.422) than in the second half (.243/325/.382).
Springer by month:
- April: .211/.297/.325 with 3 home runs, 14 walks and 21 strikeouts in 29 games.
- May: .206/.318/.288 with 1 home run, 12 walks and 12 strikeouts in 21 games.
- June: .226/.294/.430 with 5 home runs, 8 walks and 23 strikeouts in 27 games.
- July: .274/.343/.505 with 5 home runs, 10 walks and 21 strikeouts in 25 games.
- August: .165/.257/.351 with 5 home runs, 9 walks and 25 strikeouts in 25 games.
- September: .247/.321/.301 with 0 home runs, 7 walks and 17 strikeouts in 18 games.
So, July was good, and then August was awful.
Defensively? He made two errors in right field for a .991 FA (league average .988). He played 9 innings in center field. He DHed in 20 games.
FanGraphs has him at a -6. UZR/150. Outs Above Average has him at -1. He makes some highlight reel catches, but then he doesn’t get to some that I thought he should. I thought he had trouble going back on balls.
FanGraphs had him 3.5 runs better than the average base runner. He stole 16 bases, being caught just once.
Springer’s games started by his spot in the batting order:
- 1st: 101 games, hitting .214/.291/.349.
- 4th: 2 games, hitting .125/.222/.122
- 5th: 15 games, hitting .236/.300/.564.
- 6th: 17 games, hitting .190/.294/.241.
- 7th: 5 games, hitting .467/.600/.867.
By Position:
- RF: 119 games, hitting .226/.301/379.
- DH: 20 games, hitting .198/.323/.346.
- RF: 1 game, 0 for 4.
- PH: 5 times, 1 single, 1 walk, 1 k.
His favourite team to face? He hit .357/.550/.643 with 1 home run in 5 games vs. the White Sox. Also hit .326/.463/.558 with 2 home runs and 10 walks in 13 games vs. the Yankees.
Least favorite? He was 0 for 9 with a 1 against the Twins.
The Jays were 62-78 in games he started.
Springer’s longest hitting streak was 8 games.
His longest stretch without a home run was 22 games.
Dan and Buck talked about him having a hot stretch and I couldn’t remember it, but he was good in July. I guess it would be too much to hope that he put together a whole season like that?
He has two years left on that six-year, $150 million contract. He’s lost about 100 points on his OPS each season for the past three. It would be hard to watch if he had an OPS that started in the .500s next year.
John Schneider talked about moving him out of the leadoff spot next season. He better.
They are paying him a lot of money, so he will get every chance to play, but if we see another drop in performance, they will have to think about releasing him and eating the contract. That would be tough. I’m sure they have tried to shop him around, but I don’t see it happening even if they take a lot of the money.
He is a very likable guy. He seemed to stay positive throughout the season and seemed like a good teammate. I’d rather he be a bad teammate who hits well, but we can’t have everything.
He is appearing on our all-time hitter leaders boards:
- 34th in WAR among hitters at 9.6.
- 47th in games played at 510.
- 26th in home runs at 87.
- 35th in runs scored at 309.
Before the season, we asked:
- Would George’s bWAR be closer to 4.5 or 1.9. 52% of us were right.
- If the over/under on Springer’s home runs is 21 I’d take the: 32% of us were right taking the under.
- Will George make the All-Star team in any of the last three seasons of his contract? Well, he didn’t this year. 77% said no.