The team that couldn’t win is suddenly playing pretty good baseball, and the rookie who couldn’t hit big-league pitching is suddenly tearing the cover off the baseball.
George Springer hit yet another home run on Wednesday afternoon in Kansas City, his ninth home run in his past 18 games for the Astros (and sixth in six games). Yep, you read that right: nine home runs in 18 games.
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That’s more than the Royals, as a team, have the entire month of May.
And the Astros, who at one point were 11-26 on the season, are winning baseball games. From May 11 to May 19, they went 6-2. On Wednesday, they completed a three-game road sweep of the Royals to run their current winning streak to five games. They've outscored the Mariners and Royals 34-10 in that stretch. Very impressive.
But back to Springer. The 11th pick in the 2011 MLB Draft out of the University of Connecticut, the exceptionally talented outfielder piled up counting stats — of the good and bad variety — in the minors at an insane pace.
In 2012, at Single-A (advanced) and Double-A combined, Springer had 24 home runs, 87 RBIs, 32 stolen bases, 109 runs and a .302 average in 128 games. In 2013, at Double-A and Triple-A combined, Springer had 37 homers, 108 RBIs, 45 stolen bases, 109 runs and a .303 average in 135 games.
And, oh, yeah, he struck out a total of 317 times in those two seasons.
Jaw-dropping numbers, all.
Springer made his big-league debut on April 16, and he struggled mightily out of the gate. In his first 19 games, he struck out 28 times, managed just three extra-base hits (all doubles) and produced a .544 OPS.
In his next 17 games (through Tuesday), Springer hit .338 with eight homers and 19 RBIs. He still struck out 21 times, but even that shows a bit of progress.
And after three consecutive seasons of at least 106 losses for the Astros, a bit of progress from one of the organization’s most promising prospects is a very welcome thing.
