Regardless of sport, players tend to have their best seasons right ahead of free agency. That’s why the Astros’ George Springer could be a monster this year. Here are two props available to wager at Mybookie on Springer’s 2020 MLB season – assuming there is one – and an overview.
George Springer MLB Awards Odds & Analysis For 2020 Season
- Most home runs of any batter: Springer +5000
- AL MVP Award: Springer is also +5000
When the Astros beat the Dodgers in the 2017 World Series – although that title has been tainted with the sign-stealing scandal — Springer was the MVP of the Fall Classic. He went 11-for-29 with three doubles, five homers and seven RBIs, becoming just the third player to hit five home runs in a single Fall Classic, joining the Yankees’ Reggie Jackson in 1977 and the Phillies’ Chase Utley in 2009.
Springer also set records for extra-base hits (eight) and total bases (29), and he became the first player in World Series history to homer in four straight games within a single World Series. (Jackson and Lou Gehrig had done it over multiple World Series.)
Springer was thus expected to have a monster 2018 season but regressed a bit, hitting .265 with 22 homers and 71 RBIs.
However, he bounced back in a big way last year despite missing a chunk of games due to injury. Springer reached career highs in homers (39) and RBI (96) despite missing 27 team games to injury. Of those 39 homers, 12 were leadoff shots, which led the Majors and finished one shy of the MLB record held by Alfonso Soriano, who hit 13 leadoff HR for the Yankees in 2003. Springer became the third players in MLB history to hit 12+ leadoff homers in a season, also Soriano (2x) and Brady Anderson (1996 with BAL).
Springer (39 HR) and 3B Alex Bregman (41 HR) were just the second pair of Astros teammates to reach 35+ homers in the same season, joining 1B Jeff Bagwell (47 HR) and OF Richard Hidalgo (44 HR) in the 2000 season. Springer and Bregman were the only teammates in the Majors in 2019 to hit 39+ homers.
Houston returned to the playoffs and Springer and Carlos Correa both homered in the same postseason game three times: ALCS Game 2, ALCS Game 4 and World Series Game 5. Those two have now homered in the same postseason game on seven occasions, the most by any pair of teammates in MLB postseason history.
George Springer also homered in Game 1 of the World Series, meaning he had homered in five straight World Series games, from Game 4 of the 2017 World Series thru Game 1 of the 2019 Fall Classic. That was a Major League record, breaking a tie with Reggie Jackson (1977-78) and Lou Gehrig (1928-32), who both homered in four straight World Series contests.
In 14 World Series games, Springer has posted the highest slugging percentage (.839) in World Series history (min. 50 PA), ranking immediately ahead of former Red Sox DH David Ortiz (.795). Springer is hitting .339 with seven doubles, seven home runs and 11 RBI in his World Series career…those seven homers rank tied for 10th in World Series history.
Springer requested $22.5 million and was offered $17.5 million by the Astros when arbitration figures were exchanged this winter. Springer, who is in his final season of arbitration, has made $12 million in each of the last two seasons. The two sides avoided arbitration by agreeing to a one-year, $21 million contract.
This spring, Springer did a nice thing by donating $100,000 to the Astros’ employees affected by the delay to the start of the 2020 season.
“These are the people that help take care of my family when I go to work,” Springer said in a statement. “Now I want to help take care of them when they’re in a time of need.”
