Blue Jays must rethink Springer batting leadoff
After one-third of the season there is still time
It’s still not too late. For the Blue Jays, this 2026 season should not be treated as a farewell tour for one man, no matter how talented and important he once was. Certainly, George Springer deserves all due respect for his starry 13-year career, that includes a World Series MVP, four all-star games, three Silver Sluggers and four Top 13 MVP finishes, including seventh in MVP just a year ago. But these Jays are the defending American League champions and at the one-third mark of the regular-season schedule, a change at the top of the order needs to be made, before it’s too late.
“Not as of yet,” manager John Schneider offered in answer to moving Springer in the order, while addressing media in his office, earlier in the homestand. “Would I (consider it)? Yes, I always would. If George knows, he’ll hit anywhere.
“There’s a time to make an adjustment to change something up to see if it helps. And there’s a time to say, ‘Hey, we think you’re going to turn this around.’ That’s kind of where I’m at now. See how the next few weeks go, or see how the next few games go, whatever it is. I’m always open to changing it. Guys are open to it, too.”
The spotlight of the perceived lineup crisis, a crack in Jays confidence, came to the fore, back on May 18 in the Bronx, the ninth inning of an eventual 7-6 loss to the Yankees. Trailing by two runs, entering their final at-bat, the Jays had Yankee closer David Bednar on the ropes in their first meeting, facing the team the Jays vanquished in the AL Division Series last October. There was a lot of emotion being worn at this moment, held in 52 hearts and on 52 sleeves.
Having already scored a ninth-inning run, needing one more tally to tie, rookie Yohendrick Pinango worked a walk to put runners at first and second. Back to the top of the order with Springer and Vlad Guerrero Jr. up with one out and the tying and go-ahead runs on base. Nowhere else you’d rather be. Bednar was coming off of a failed outing and was in trouble. After three straight balls, Springer seemed in control of the at-bat. He then swung and missed at three straight would-have-been balls, sliders below the zone and the tone of the game changed. Vlad bounced out and it was over.
Springer, in the final season of what has been the team’s most important free-agent contract this century, six years and $150M, becoming a Jay, emerging from the pandemic in 2021, certainly deserves to remain in the lineup, but is no longer the offensive catalyst who deserves that extra at-bat whenever the lineup turns over for a fifth time in late innings. Yes, at 36-years-old, he is coming off a fabulous renaissance season in 2025…but that was then.
There are reasons other than age, but age is the overriding factor. Springer has had a broken big toe on his left foot and who knows whaty other aches and pains that he has played through. He is in MLB’s 29th percentile of baserunning, with the slowest sprint speed of his career. He has the slowest personal home-to-first-time of his 13 seasons and the lowest average on exit-velocity for batted balls.
He has hit leadoff in 33 of his 34 games, all as DH. Overall, he is 27-for-131-.206, with a .288 on-base and .662 OPS. Facing right-handers, he is batting .186 with four homers and eight RBIs. He is 6-for-41-.146 from the seventh inning on. He is 6-for-45-.133 when his team is trailing. He is 3-for-28-.107 from the seventh inning on and within three runs. Those are not the leadoff numbers for a team that is competing for a post-season berth in the AL’s toughest division.
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“Honestly, I know those numbers are what they are,” Schneider said. “Kind of internally, you know he’s dealing with the toe and his timing has been off and I think that’s a little bit behind him. Trending in the right direction. Sometimes you have to let players go through it a little bit.”
This team’s acclaimed chemistry, the clubhouse magic of 2025, comes from winning. When this Jays team is winning, it’s Vlad and George cutting it up in the dugout, a real-life Uncrustables commercial. But on the field, when they’re in a jam, neither of their star players has, thus far, had an answer. It’s become like kids in a playground where the sandbox is filled with quicksand. Springer and the team, moving forward, would be better off with him batting fifth or sixth every day, instead of being subjected to the white-hot pressure of leadoff within a struggling offence.
“There’s a time to make an adjustment to change something up to see if it helps,”
“There’s a time to make an adjustment to change something up to see if it helps,” Schneider continued. “And there’s a time to say, ‘Hey, we think you’re going to turn this around.’ That’s kind of where I’m at now. See how the next few weeks go, or see how the next few games go, whatever it is. I’m always open to changing it. Guys are open to it, too.”
To the manager’s point, Springer’s production has started to show signs of life, but his skills at this age, this stage, are more suited to the 5-6 spots in anyone’s order. Consider that a 53-game production from the Jays’ 5-hole, combined, is 37-for-201-.184 with 25 RBIs and a .247 on-base. Consider that the 4-5-6 spots in the order, combined, have a .329 slugging average, with 72 RBIs. Meanwhile, the sixth spot in 53 games has 16 total RBIs, the lowest of any position in the Jays’ batting order. Springer and his threatening presence and his formerly five-tool toolbox would serve the Jays far better in spots 5-or-6.
“You try to figure out the best thing to do with who you have, each series or each week,” Schneider concluded. “I feel like there’s been a lot of moving parts, but, yeah, I feel some of that is active. We’ve got a lot of games left, over 100. We need to just focus on having good at-bats. I think when we get some guys back in the lineup (Kirk, Barger, Lukes), it allows you to be a little bit more flexible then.
“It’s not early. But it’s a season. Have we played up to our expectations? No. Have we played up to our ability? No. You really trust that over the course of a season that evens out, but you don’t want to have it even out too late.”
That timing of any lineup move is a key point for Schneider and the Jays. In the words of an anonymous, homespun baseball philosopher, “It’s getting late, early.”
So who bats leadoff? Clement?