If I can't marry George Springer, then I guess he can marry my daughter (in 25 years). This Austin American-Statesman piece is a wonderful profile of Springer in every way, even if you include the shots taken at the Astros in the lede.
Now with 37 homers and 41 stolen bases, Springer joins Darryl Strawberry (34HR/45SB as a 20-year old at Double-A in 1982) and Ruben Rivera (33HR/48SB as a 20-year old in Low-A/High-A in 1994) as the only minor-leaguers in the last 40 years to have a 30/40 season, and he's three homers away from a 40/40 season (DISCLAIMER: In the piece on keeping Springer at OKC, I said Jerry Witte had a 40/40 season for Toledo in 1946...and was totally wrong. Misread SO as SB. Sorry.)
Manager Tony DeFrancesco:
Nobody has the raw speed and talent this guy has.
But the quote of the year comes from ever-humble George Springer:
We've got a good thing going down here. The playoffs would be a nice reward. I need to keep improving. I don't think I've got quite anything figured out yet.
Doesn't have anything figured out? He's hitting .304/.427/.663 at OKC with 17 stolen bases in 20 attempts (83.6% success rate all season). He has a .998 OPS against RHP; 1.088 OPS against LHP. A 1.049 OPS at home and a .997 OPS on the road. If he hasn't figured it out yet, I can't wait to see what happens when he does.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
