In an interview with the New York Post's Kevin Kernan, George Springer said that in 9th grade he was 4'10" and 87 pounds. (Ed Note: Today he is 12'7" and 635 pounds of muscle and home runs) After watching his hometown New Britain Rock Cats, Springer told his dad he wanted to play like Torii Hunter -
As an aside, this would have been 1997 when Hunter played with New Britain and hit .231/.305/.338. Hunter hit 14 home runs in 866 Double-A PAs. Springer hit 14 homers in his first 192 PAs at Triple-A in 2013.
- saying, "My dad brought me to a game when I was 7 and when I got home, I said, ‘I want to play like that guy.'"
Luhnow:
I just introduced him to five of our owners and he charmed them within a
couple of minutes. What he did last year was historic. As an
organization, we’re incredibly excited about the future with George
Springer. I truly think he has chance to be a franchise player. We’re
looking for the next generation of Biggio, Bagwell and Berkman in Houston that our fans can identify with and grow with
and we think this kid is one of them, and [shortstop] Carlos Correa.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
