Davis Schneider isn’t looking to take George Springer’s job but, whether he wants to or not, that’s what should be happening right now.
One-quarter of the way into the season, the Blue Jays are a bottom-eight team in home runs and on-base-plus-slugging percentage, fourth-worst in runs per game and next-to-last in OPS with runners in scoring position.
Changing the leadoff hitter isn’t going to fix all that, by any means, but there are reasons to do it beyond “it couldn’t hurt.”
Springer is off to a rough start, batting just .200 with a .563 OPS that placed him 156th among the 169 qualified hitters in the majors going into Monday’s games. And the leadoff hitter gets the most trips to the plate of anyone in the lineup.
A sluggish April is nothing new for the 34-year-old. The first month of the season has been Springer’s worst over his decade in the big leagues and he has always come out of it. There’s no reason to believe he won’t come out of it again.
But May has been worse than April this season, as Springer has spent most of this month battling the respiratory virus that continues to cut a swath through the Jays’ clubhouse. He has hit just .161 (5-for-31) with one walk and no extra-base hits in May.
While no one has ever been able to figure out when a cold hitter will get hot or when a hot hitter will go cold, it’s time for a new face at the top of the order.
Jays manager John Schneider’s contention has been that hitters will get pitched the same way regardless of where they are in the lineup, and he’s right. But not only should Springer be given the opportunity to work out of his struggles in a less significant spot, Davis Schneider has shown that he can help the team in a more important one.
Since his major-league debut last August, the mustachioed 25-year-old went into Monday having posted a .952 OPS, second in the major leagues to the Yankees’ Juan Soto over that span. He led all qualifying Jays this season in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage before going 0-for-5 in Monday鈥檚 extra-inning win in Baltimore. He’s also second on the team in walk rate to Daulton Varsho.
With Springer in sick bay, Schneider has led off three of the Jays’ last four games, with all three of his hits from that spot having come in Saturday’s huge comeback win over Minnesota. If there’s an extended run coming for him up top, he’s ready.
“I like it,” Schneider said in an interview that will be on Thursday’s new episode of “Deep Left Field,” the Star’s baseball podcast.
”(Hitting leadoff) shouldn’t really change your mindset, shouldn’t really change your approach. (That) should always stay the same no matter where you are in the lineup.”
Except for two things, both of which concern the very first at-bat of the game.
“One way to look at it is if you can jump on (a pitcher) early,” Schneider said. “Like he’s going to groove one, he’s not very comfortable so he’s not going to try to be painting early in the game. But also vice-versa, you want to let your other batters see what he throws. So if you swing at the first pitch and it’s a fastball and you get out, it’s a waste of an at-bat.”
Schneider has been getting a lot of advice on being a leadoff hitter from the man who has been hitting first for the Jays since arriving in 2021.
”(Springer has) been one of the best leadoff hitters in history and he’s taught me a lot,” Schneider said. “He’s talked about what it takes to be a leadoff hitter, just the way to go about it聽鈥 when not to swing, how to try to get on base for the team, stuff like that. He has a lot of wisdom when it comes to being a leadoff hitter.”
A lot of success, too. Only Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson has led off more games with a home run than Springer’s 57.
Moving Springer out of the leadoff spot isn’t unprecedented. The Jays did it just last season.
With Springer in a 1-for-30 rut and Whit Merrifield hitting .373 over a three-week tear, the Jays flipped the lineup on July 28, 2023, moving Merrifield up top and dropping Springer to sixth.聽
The change lasted a month. Springer was leading off again on Aug. 28. He snapped out of his funk with a four-hit game in Boston on Aug. 5, kicking off a run in which he posted a .943 OPS with four homers while Merrifield put up a .566 OPS over that span.
You never know when a cold hitter will get hot and vice-versa, but it’s time to give Davis Schneider some run up top.
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