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Astros Report Card: Grading the outfielders’ 2019 season
By Brian Murray
George Springer: A+
The Astros leadoff hitter, George Springer, had a superb season and had career highs in most offensive stats. His slash line of .292/.383/.591 and .974 OPS are across the board the best he has seen in his six-year career. He also had the most home runs (39) and RBIs (96) than he has ever had in a season.
Springer knocked a franchise record 12 leadoff home runs this season and now has 36 total in his career. He is on pace to catch and surpass Rickey Henderson‘s Major League record of 81 leadoff homers.
His 156 wRC+ was second only to Mike Trout in the American League among outfielders and his 6.5 WAR was the third-highest, just a hair under the 6.6 of Mookie Betts.
Springer’s bat isn’t his only asset, he’s pretty darn good out in the field also. Among outfielders with 100 games or more this season, he was third in the AL with an 11 rdrs (defensive runs saved above average). Springer also placed in the top ten in fielding percentage with a .991. He ranked 5th overall in Fangraphs.com defensive rating.
I consider Springer the spark plug of this offense, when he gets going, the team gets going. He was selected to play in his third straight All-Star game. Springer missed 40 games due to injury this year, so you can only imagine what his numbers would have been otherwise. He will be eligible for free agency after this next season. Hopefully, a contract extension is in order.