Ladies and gentlemen, the Toronto Blue Jays hit their first home run of the season.
The Tampa Bay Rays jumped out to an early lead after Yandy Díaz hit the Rays’ first home run of the season on a 2-2 count. Thankfully, José Berríos settled down the rest of the inning, already doing better than his start on Opening Day in 2022!
However, it took awhile for the Blue Jays bats to get going, as Rays’ starter Zach Eflin went nine up, nine down. That changed when Springer stepped up to the plate for his second plate appearance. Springer, who really likes to swing, hit an 80.9 mph cutter from Eflin, sending the ball to left centre field to give the Blue Jays their first home run of the season.
This home run came off the bat at 100.3 mph and had a distance of 392 feet. It would be a home run in 24 of 30 ballparks, with the six stadiums being Atlanta’s Truist Park, Baltimore’s Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Colorado’s Coors Field, Kansas City’s Kauffman Stadium, Los Angeles’s Angel Stadium, and Pittsburgh’s PNC Park.
Springer, now 34, is coming off his worst season of his career. In 2023, the outfielder slashed .258/.327/.405 with 21 home runs in 683 plate appearances, walking 8.8% of the time and striking out 18.3% of the time. This gave him a 104 wRC+, by far his worst season of his 10-year career.
In his three seasons as a Blue Jay, Springer is slashing .263/.338/.460 with 68 home runs in 1608 plate appearances, giving him a 121 wRC+. It’s worth mentioning that his first two seasons as a Blue Jay, he was either injured or playing injured, and still was able to produce.
Was the 2023 season the start of the age regression? Time will tell, but his Opening Day home run on Thursday was an encouraging sign not just for Springer, but for the Blue Jays.
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