George Springer

Toronto Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins isn't ready to hit the panic button yet despite sitting in last place in the AL East with over a quarter of the season already done."We believe in this talent. We believe there is time left, but there is a massive sense of urgency, and we need to get it turned around soon," Atkins told the media during Saturday's press conference, according to Sportsnet.Atkins also backed manager John Schneider amid a 19-24 start."He's been very strong through a very difficult time," Atkins said.The 50-year-old executive believes the club's lineup - which ranks close to the bottom of baseball in homers, slugging percentage, and runs - is showing some signs of life."We're getting into really good counts, working starting pitchers better. ... We just haven't been getting our best swings off," Atkins said.He added: "It's not something that I've been able to pinpoint. We just see it as something we can correct. You don't just tell someone to swing harder. Hitting is the most dynamic and challenging challenge in professional sport. The things that we've worked to change, we do believe in. We feel like we have the time and talent to correct."Toronto removed slumping star outfielder George Springer, who's slashing .196/.271/.288 with three long balls over 39 games in 2024, from the leadoff spot ahead of Saturday's game against the Tampa Bay Rays."It comes down to: We need George Springer. We need to get him going," Atkins said.The Blue Jays averaged 90 wins per season over the last three years, which included back-to-back trips to the playoffs in 2022-23. Toronto has the ninth-highest payroll in the majors.Copyright © 2024 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

TORONTO - The Toronto Blue Jays are struggling at the plate. That's no secret. They entered play Thursday ranked 29th in the majors in runs scored and rank near the bottom of the majors in slugging, home runs, and an assortment of other categories.Part of the issue is obvious. Core lineup fixtures like George Springer, Bo Bichette, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. are failing to meet expectations to varying degrees, and the club purposefully became more defensive-minded in recent seasons within its position-player group.Moreover, despite courting Shohei Ohtani, no star-level external additions were made in the offseason. Any offensive improvement this season was going to have to come internally, from a team that fell from third in runs scored in 2021, to fourth in 2022, to 14th last year.But that internal improvement has yet to happen on a large scale, and this trend must change if the Blue Jays are to turn things around in the competitive A.L. East.Can that happen?Looking further under the hood, there are more troubling indicators. In the new bat-speed metrics released to the public by MLB this week, the Blue Jays rank last in the majors in average bat speed, one spot below the lowly Chicago White Sox. That matters because bat speed is a critical performance driver. It's also a skill that is difficult to change.!function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r=0;r

Springer (illness) will start in right field and bat leadoff in Wednesday's game in Baltimore.

What should we do with these struggling players? The post Patience or Panic: George Springer, Cedric Mullins, and Marcus Stroman appeared first on Pitcher List.

Springer (illness) is not in the lineup for Tuesday's game at Baltimore.