George Springer's Revival is the Best Story on the 2025 Blue Jays

With two years and roughly $50 million remaining on the blockbuster $150 million contract he signed back in 2021, George Springer looked finished. His contract projected to be nothing more than deadweight for a franchise that hadn't gotten over the playoff hump with its "next-gen" core, and two straight years of subpar offensive production all but portended a grim future for himself and the Blue Jays.

Luckily, it seems no one got the memo.

We've covered the good and bad of Springer's revival season here on Jays Centre, and while his defense (-6 OAA, -7 DRS) remains pitiful — it's gotten so bad that he now splits his time evenly between the outfield and designated hitter — the 35-year-old should be celebrated for his impressive renaissance.

The basics: In 92 games (365 plate appearances), Springer is slashing .276/.368/.490, good for a 139 wRC+, his best mark since his maiden season in Toronto (140 wRC+ in 2021). His 1.9 fWAR already surpasses what he provided in 2023 and 2024, and he's on pace for his second 20-20 season in three years. He's also elevated his walk rate all the way to 12.3% while keeping his strikeout rate (19.2%) consistent with his career norms.

Now, for the advanced stuff: Springer has improved nearly every batted-ball metric from last year, and he sits in the 90th percentile or higher in xwOBA (.395), xSLG (.553), barrel rate (14.9%), ideal launch angle hits (40.9%), and chase rate (20.0%). In other words, the veteran slugger is displaying more patience at the plate, swinging at less "bad" pitches (i.e., pitches he can't hit or can't do damage on), and, when he does hit the ball, he's hitting it with more authority. That is, as the kids say, pretty good.

When analyzing a turnaround of this magnitude, it's always important to check for a change in approach. There's a myriad of ways to do that, but one of my preferred methods is checking for a player's production against specific pitch types; if a player suddenly starts crushing fastballs after years of struggling against them, odds are he's changed something in his swing or his approach at the plate.

And, lo and behold, Springer has indeed improved his production against both fastballs and breaking pitches. Long a pulverizer of the hard stuff, Springer has returned to his usual dominance against heaters in 2025 after a meaningful hiatus. This season, he's produced a .331 batting average and .564 slugging percentage (and .638 expected slug!!!) against the roughly 800 fastballs he's seen. His wOBA (.427) and xwOBA (.449) are at their highest levels versus fastballs since 2021. Plus, this new approach — sitting on fastballs and adjusting to the slower offerings — has also yielded better results against breaking balls. A .235 average, .431 slugging percentage, and .311 wOBA are all huge improvements over his production last season, and they all fall short of his respective expected stats this season (.254 xBA, .492 xSLG, .339 xwOBA).

Naturally, he's sacrificed some production against off-speed pitches, as his .263 wOBA versus them this year is nearly 30 points lower than in 2024. However, it shouldn't be a coincidence that it's his lowest mark since 2021, especially since he hasn't hit fastballs and breaking balls this good since that same year. It's not often a 35-year-old can channel himself from four years prior, but that's exactly what Springer is doing. Considering that he only sees off-speed pitches 14.0% of the time (compared to 86% for the other two offerings combined), the trade-off he's made is obviously well worth it.

Suffice to say: Springer is both healthy and productive once again. It's no surprise that as he returns to his form of old, the Blue Jays are on pace for their best season since Springer first arrived in Canada.