This Astros winning streak goes to 11
As an RBI force atop batting order, Springer flouts baseball convention
Yuli Gurriel and Brian McCann hit home runs to back starter Mike Fiers as the Astros win their 11th straight game — one fewer than the franchise record — 7-3 over the Royals in Kansas City.
A lineup change on May 24, 2015, would prove later to be an innovation. In the Sunday finale of a four-game Astros series at Detroit, George Springer, a secondyear outfielder with sunken cheeks to complement a cleanshaven face, led off for the first time. He filled in for Jose Altuve, who usually batted first but had the day off following a 3 for 32 slump.
Anibal Sanchez began the game with a 91 mph fastball down the middle. Springer unleashed a swing so violent that he could have suffered whiplash. It was an emphatic whiff.
“I guess it would be safe to say,” Alan Ashby said during the Root Sports broadcast, “George
Springer is not your classic leadoff man.” He never would be. In a game against the Rangers exactly one year later, Springer led off again, but he stayed put this time. He proceeded to bat first in 115 of the next 116 games.
Another year has passed, and the forgettable lineup change has developed into an unparalleled advantage for the Astros, who have the most wins and runs scored in baseball. No team has benefited more this season from a powerful first batter.
Springer, huskier and scruffier in his fourth season, had a stretch of seven homers in eight games preceding Monday’s 7-3 win at Kansas City. One of those blasts soared 473 feet.
Springer catalyzed a sweep of the Rangers on Sunday with his sixth leadoff home run of the season. He struck again in the fourth with his 16th homer overall and on Monday was named the American League’s Player of the Week, having gone 15-for30 with five homers, a double, 11 runs and nine RBIs.
“When he kick-starts us like that, there’s an energy boost in our dugout,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said of Springer’s penchant for leadoff homers.
Through Sunday, Springer ranked second in the AL in runs (43) and tied for eighth in RBIs (37). Those numbers rival Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge (44 runs and 41 RBIs). But Judge is a 6-7 cleanup monster — not a leadoff man.
“Stereotypes don’t get very far with me,” Hinch said.
Other outliers
The choice to begin the lineup with, effectively, a cleanup hitter became trendy last season. The World Series featured the Cubs’ Kyle Schwarber and Indians’ Carlos Santana batting leadoff as designated hitters. The Orioles bumped up center fielder Adam Jones, and the Blue Jays tried slumping right fielder Jose Bautista at the top.
These men are built like nightclub bouncers, not
base stealers. They get paid millions to cross home plate, not reach first base.
“Now the game is a lot different,” said Altuve, whom Hinch installed in the No. 3 spot last year around the same time as Springer at leadoff. “It’s about OPS.”
OPS, the sum of on-base and slugging percentages, conveys the ability to get on base and hit for power. An OPS surpassing .800 is similarly admirable to batting above .300.
Springer’s OPS was .895 entering Monday. Tampa Bay DH Corey Dickerson emerged this year as a new leadoff threat. His 76 hits led the AL and .979 OPS ranked fifth.
Springer has outperformed and outlasted his leadoff peers from 2016. After batting .190 when batting first this season, Schwarber was dropped to ninth. Santana hit .227 in 35 games leading off. Jones and Bautista no longer bat at the top.
When aligning hitters, Hinch imagines how they will perform in tandem.
“I do see some strengths in Springer when the lineup rolls around, which is
not something you think of as a leadoff hitter,” Hinch said.
It is easier to enjoy when Marwin Gonzalez bats seventh and posts a 1.034 OPS, eighth best in the AL through Sunday.
“The guys in the back of our lineup are the best in the entire league,” shortstop Carlos Correa said.
Conventions that lasted a century reflected the scarcity of run-producing players. A first-inning run was treated as if it might be the last.
Change in strategy
Not anymore. Leadoff hitters accounted for 10.3 percent of all home runs and drove in 9.6 percent of runs in 2016, both the highest such marks since 1920, according to Zack Kram of TheRinger.com.
“A 4-3 or a 5-4 game has replaced the 1-0 game,” Springer said. “More teams are built to score every inning.
“I’m only going to bat first one time,” he reasoned. “It’s not necessarily a dying art, the art of the stolen base, but (opposing) teams would rather have you steal second than hit a three-run homer.”
No need to ask the Rangers that question. In Friday’s 7-1 win for the Astros, Springer threw a tantrum after striking out in the sixth. He slammed his bat into the dirt and spiked his helmet. When bottom-ofthe-order hitters Yulieski Gurriel and Jake Marisnick got on base two innings later, Springer redeemed himself with a 444-foot home run to center.
The Astros’ prolific run production has masked the rarity of multi-run homers for Springer: 11 of his 16 home runs have come without anyone on base.
The loss of potential run-scoring opportunities has not mattered for the best offense in the AL, but the theory that Springer would drive in more runs if he had more runners on base is closer to a guarantee. Altuve and Correa have batted with runners on base roughly 45 percent of the time, whereas Springer has done so 34 percent of the time and hit .333.
Springer had not led off regularly in youth ball, college or the minors. Now he is thriving as the first line of attack for the most potent arsenal of bats in the AL — even if he could be the biggest weapon behind hitters like Altuve and Correa.
His solo homers on Sunday did not move Hinch to consider moving Springer into the heart of the lineup.
“No,” Hinch said. “No chance.”