Astros George Springer Shut Down For Season

Everybody Loves George.

Photo Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

In a move that certainly is for the better except for some potential short term highlight reel swings and catches, the Houston Astros announced today that rookie phenomenon George Springer–who last played July 19–will miss the rest of the 2014 campaign with a left quad injury.

Reported by our friend and sensational writer Jose de Jesus Ortiz and confirmed by Houston interim Manager Tom Lawless, the 24-year old is going to be shut down with eyes appropriately set on the 2015 baseball season.

“He’s not going to play anymore this year,” Lawless said. “He’s done.”

After breaking through to the Major Leagues on April 19, the highly touted former prospect initially struggled out of the gates. With a slash line of .182/.262/.218 with zero homers in his first 14 games the naysayers and haters gonna hate hate hate were showing their colors.

A franchise mired in a deep rebuilding process, there was a lot of pressure on George Springer to be an instant hit like a Mike Trout or a Yasiel Puig and prove his cornerstone capabilities.

It didn’t happen right away, but in games 32-38 for the 2014 Astros, dating from May 21 to May 29 (my birthday! Sorry, selfish contribution) the dam broke and the power potential came pouring through the Space City.

In the span of a week, the Astros right fielder was not just sensational, he was historical. He knocked a home run in each game except one but compensated for that by knocking two out of the park on May 22. The club went 6-1 in these games, surging them not up the 2014 standings, but the rankings of the future beyond these still experimental months of 2014 Major League Baseball.

#TheFuture Photo Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

George Springer finished his first season in the bigs with a .231/.336/.468 line, 20 home runs and 51 RBIs in 78 games. His base stealing talents showed off during his illustrious minor league career was mostly absent in 2014 due to some nagging pains as well as the lingering and eventually season-ending quad injury.

But like the team, Springer made some great great promising strides for the team and the fans and the team’s future after a slow start. Familiar narrative? Well regardless of the start and sure, that batting average is a little low, George Springer–during his 78 games–was one of baseball’s most prominent players on the field and off them in magazine and newspaper headlines and fantasy baseball leagues and overall his contributions are a fraction of the team’s overall progress in 2014 but something that we are all very, very much looking forward to in 2015 and many, many more years to come for our baseball club.