Toronto Blue Jays George Springer set to lose his spot
Photo credit: TSN
Toronto Blue Jays veteran outfielder George Springer has been one of the best leadoff hitters of all-time but as his offense has declined over the last two years, the team is looking at other options for the 2025 season.
The Blue Jays have made some interesting additions this off-season such as signing Anthony Santander and trading for Andrés Giménez who can both be considered for the leadoff hitter role.
George Springer set to lose his spot as leadoff hitter for the Blue Jays this season
Springer is coming off the worst year of his career in 2024 and while some are still optimistic that he could bounce back, there is a solid chance that he continues to decline which is why the Blue Jays might look at someone else to hit leadoff.
Springer was Toronto's main leadoff hitter last year but had his worst season as a Blue Jay (.220/.303/.371). While there are reasons for Jays fans to be optimistic about Springer having a bounce-back year, there are some other intriguing candidates who could replace Springer if he struggles out of the gate. -Sookram
The Blue Jays have a few solid options to replace Springer at leadoff, the first being Will Wagner who is coming off a solid first season with the Blue Jays and has proven that he can be a great hitter in the MLB.
The first guy that comes to mind is hitting machine Will Wagner, who is getting some buzz as a potential Rookie of the Year candidate. Wagner posted a .788 OPS in his 24 games with with Blue Jays last year, and FanGraphs is projecting him to have a .351 OBP this season, which is the second-best mark on the team. -Sookram
Another options could be Santander which would not be a traditional strategy but it would certainly make things hard for opposing pitcher who would have to face the slugger at the start of ever game.
Sure, the assumption was that the Blue Jays would bring Santander in to protect Guerrero, but think of how tough it would be for a starting pitcher to start a game by facing off against Santander and Guerrero (who have combined for 193 home runs the past three seasons). -Sookram
Finally there is also Andres Gimenez who is by far the worst hitter at out of the three and does not have a great walk rate but has shown that he has a quick bat which could be useful at leadoff.
Option three is Andrés Giménez who is projected to have a bounce back season after having an OBP of .298 last season. While he's never had a great walk rate, he's quick (89th percentile in sprint speed) and can cause trouble on the basepaths (30 bases in 2023 and 2024). -Sookram
While nothing is set in stone, it looks like the Blue Jays will have no chance but to move Springer down the lineup if they want to win more games this season.
Source: Jays Journal
Assessing the Blue Jays' leadoff options
Assessing the Blue Jays' leadoff options
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