Avon Old Farms, UConn product Springer delivers again
‘He just kills it in the postseason’
AVON — The sound of baseballs were alive and well at Ryan Field during a Wednesday afternoon intrasquad scrimmage several hours before one of the most famous Avon Old Farms alums added another chapter to his legacy.
George Springer went from being an undersized 14-year-old prospect with tons of potential to becoming one of the best athletes in UConn’s proud athletic history. Now he is a postseason home-run hitting dynamo for the Houston Astros.
Springer, who turned 31 last month, hit a two-run homer in the fifth inning in Wednesday night’s American League Championship Series game, a contest the Astros needed to win to stave off elimination. Springer also snared the final out in the 4-3 win with the tying run on third base to extend the series.
The current Avon Old Farms team includes Ryan Daniels, a junior shortstop from Meriden, and Gavin Greger, a pitcher/outfielder who spent the last two seasons at Bristol Central who will follow the same path that Springer took by heading from Avon Old Farms to UConn.
“He just kills it in the postseason, you might as well sign the guy just for the postseason, he is unreal,” Daniels said.
Springer’s homer was his 18th in the postseason, which ties him for fifth on the career list with teammate Jose Altuve as well as Reggie Jackson and Mickey Mantle. Certainly Springer has the advantage of more rounds of playoff baseball than when those two Hall of Famers were leading the New York Yankees to
World Series titles, but it was Springer’s 278th postseason plate appearance. Mantle had 18 homers in 273 plate appearances while Jackson had 318 plate appearances for his 18 HRs. Altuve hit his 18th homer on plate appearance No. 270.
Avon Old Farms baseball coach Rob Dowling is impressed by what Springer is doing, but not exactly surprised.
“I am just happy for George. When George enrolled with us, he was 14 years old, he was (an) undersized 14-year-old kid,” Dowling said. “You could
see for sure that George was extraordinarily talented even though he was undersized and we were kind of waiting for him to grow. When he grew, it was obvious that the work he had put in just with his command of fundamentals and knowing the game and getting his athletic actions right, just took a huge leap forward when strength finally arrived in his body.
“I didn’t see all of it coming because seeing somebody succeeding at that level is so special and so rare, but George is a special and rare guy. We keep in touch, it just makes me so
happy because he seems so happy doing what he is doing. He brings a lot of energy and joy to the game along with his extraordinary athletic gifts so to see somebody so talented clearly enjoying what he is doing as much as George is just makes me happy for George as a person. Certainly we all admire the athletic talent but when you hear about somebody that seems so happy doing what he is doing, that makes you happy for them.”