George Springer will not start Sunday’s matchup against Detroit, taking a breather after starting the previous five games, the Blue Jays announced. The move is a response to a prolonged stretch of poor results and the lingering effects of a recent toe injury.
The numbers behind the decision are stark. Springer is hitting.198 with a.607 OPS this season and had gone hitless in his past three contests. In May he was batting just.143 through 11 contests. Since returning from the injured list he has a.552 OPS; he had a.661 OPS when he landed on the IL. Across his comeback he has managed two home runs in 107 trips to the plate and is at -0.1 bWAR in 25 games.
Springer’s underlying metrics also show friction. He’s recorded a 19.4% pop-up rate — the highest of his career — and a 25.1% chase rate. His average exit velocity sits at 88.4 mph with a 38.8% hard-hit rate. The recent slump included stretches of weak contact and swings that put too many balls in the air or out of the strike zone.
Injuries have complicated the picture. Springer missed a few weeks with a fractured toe and then, a few games after his return, was hit by a pitch on that still-healing toe. Columnist Kerry Miller summed up the situation by noting that sequence and arguing Springer is not yet at full strength; Miller also pointed out that Springer must produce more while teammates Alejandro Kirk and Addison Barger remain on the shelf.
The team’s need for a turnaround is immediate. Springer’s 2025 campaign still looms large as a contrast: he posted a.959 OPS with 32 home runs that year. That production is why expectations remain high for a player who is now 36 and being used almost exclusively as a designated hitter. But the Blue Jays have labored offensively of late — winning three of their last 10 games and falling 9.5 games behind the Tampa Bay Rays — and the club needs a spark from its veteran bats.
There is a tactical question hanging over the lineup. Commentators have suggested moving Springer down from the leadoff spot during offensive droughts in the past; that adjustment worked during a May 2024 slump. Now, with Springer failing to find consistent contact and with his pop-up and chase rates elevated, the case for rethinking his everyday role has resurfaced. The roster is thinner while Kirk and Barger recover, and the team cannot afford extended slumps from a bat that had been a middle-of-the-order producer just last season.
The tension is simple: a player who was elite in 2025 is now struggling to deliver even league-average production. Springer’s two homers in 107 plate appearances and a.552 OPS since his return are a far cry from the.959 OPS and 32 homers that set the benchmark. The Blue Jays have given him five straight starts recently and now opt for a short pause instead of pressing him through the slump and the aftereffects of a toe injury.
Give him a day off now and the team hopes for sharper at-bats after that; if the numbers do not improve, the club will face a tougher choice. The most consequential question is whether Springer can re-establish the quality of contact and situational hitting that earned him heavy playing time two seasons ago. If he does not, the Blue Jays will need to adjust his role — perhaps moving him out of a near-everyday DH spot — rather than rely on the memory of 2025 production to carry the lineup forward.
