Springer shows why he can stay upbeat
Astros OF shakes off slump, delivers pair of big hits in AL win
WASHINGTON — On the day his manager successfully argued for an uncalled balk that forced him in as the winning run against a divisional foe, George Springer produced a 2for-3 afternoon and scored three times.
Springer departed Arlington with consecutive multi-hit games. His OPS was a robust .885. The Astros continued to Oakland, the second leg of an unblemished 10-game road trip. Springer’s offensive prowess did not join them.
The leadoff hitter spiraled into one of the worst slumps of his professional career. He did not record consecutive multi-hit games again until July 9-10 against the A’s. His OPS withered as low as .748, exacerbated by bad luck and rare outward shows of frustration from the often-gregarious outfielder.
At its lowest point, during late June, Springer was hitless in 64 of 68 at-bats. Manager A.J. Hinch tried twice to give him off days to “reset,” reiterating he could sense Springer’s frustration in his pitch selection and visceral reactions to his unsuccessful at-bats.
His peers still voted Springer here to a second straight AllStar Game, a four-day respite from the past six weeks of frustration. In the 87 at-bats that preceded the break, Springer managed three extra-base hits.
Perhaps the Midsummer Classic was just what he needed. After singling during a threerun eighth that gave the American League a 5-2 lead, Springer followed Alex Bregman’s solo homer with one of his own in a three-run 10th that gave the AL an 8-6 victory.
“There’s a lot of things that happen when you don’t get results,” Springer said Tuesday. “I’ve been hitting the ball hard, I have hit the ball hard a lot, just haven’t gotten anything out of it, and that’s the game. You’re going to have ups and downs in the year, you’re going to go through things like I am, but it’s about how you handle it. It’s not about me; it’s about our guys.”
Springer and hitting coach Dave Hudgens attribute the malaise to a snowballing of rotten luck. Examining the slump yields validity to such an assessment. Springer’s strikeout percentage is just 18.3 — it was 17.7 last season — and he’s coaxing walks at an identical rate.
One-hundred fourteen balls in play have exited Springer’s bat harder than 95 mph, according to Statcast. Only two teammates — fellow All-Stars Alex Bregman and Jose Altuve — have struck more.
“I think maybe there was a little mechanical thing going on with him, and maybe he got into a little bit of a bad habit,” Hudgens said last week. “The thing about it is, he’s worked really hard, he’s stayed consistent with his work, and he’s hit some balls hard that’s been caught. That’s the thing: I think he’s run into a little bit of bad luck.”
Springer chose not to assign blame to any faulty mechanics. It happens to all hitters, he said, stretches where a hand gets out of whack or a front foot varies during a swing. Dwelling on them produces no remedy, he said.
It’s why he continues to exude optimism.
Throughout the slump, he paraded through various clubhouses singing self-deprecating tunes hoping to change his luck. Tuesday, he wore a wide smile while sitting in Red Sox slugger Mookie Betts’ locker by mistake.
“There’s a lot that goes into a season,” Springer said. “I think people that don’t watch the games a lot or don’t understand the game just kind of get caught up in numbers, and it’s not what it’s about. It’s a good start. I wish I could have ended it a little better, but it’s not how you start, it’s about how you finish. We’ll see where we are at the end of September.”