Toronto’s George Springer is known for a lot of things, but might best be known for his knack for hitting leadoff home runs. With more than 50 such blasts to his resume so far, he trails only Rickey Henderson in this category. Fans know that as they’re getting settled into their seats, there’s a good chance that they’ll watch the game begin with a “Springer Dinger.” In this list, we’re counting down the longest home runs of Springer’s career, according to Statcast. (All videos appear courtesy of MLB.)
Here are the 10 longest home runs of George Springer’s career to date.
10. 453 feet: August 13, 2019, at Guaranteed Rate Field
Springer finished seventh in American League MVP voting in 2019, thanks in part to his 39 home runs. The 26th of those came in August on the South Side of Chicago, and gets our list started. On Dylan Cease’s very first pitch of the game, Springer connected and drove the baseball 453 feet onto the concourse behind the left field seats. The home run left Springer’s bat at 111.3 mph.
9. 454 feet: July 4, 2016, at Minute Maid Park
Springer hit only one home run in 2016 that traveled farther than the one he hit at home on July 4. The Independence Day blast came against Seattle’s Wade Miley, who left a changeup on the inner half of the strike zone that Springer pounced on. The baseball left the outfielder’s bat at 113.9 mph and soared to the wall below the train tracks in left-center field. It was Springer’s 19th long ball of a campaign in which he hit 29.
6 (t). 455 feet: May 11, 2016, at Minute Maid Park
The 1,500th all-time Astros home run at Minute Maid Park came off the bat of Springer in May of 2016. Facing Cleveland’s Danny Salazar, Springer teed up a middle-of-the-zone slider and pounded it 455 feet over the Crawford Boxes in left field. The baseball left Springer’s bat at 112.3 mph, was his longest of the season, and was also the second-longest homer hit at the Houston park in 2016.
6 (t). 455 feet: April 16, 2018, at T-Mobile Park
Springer was up to his usual lead-off home run prowess during an early-season game against Seattle in 2018. On just the fifth pitch of the game, the All-Star outfielder smacked a fastball from James Paxton 455 feet to left field. The ball, which left Springer’s bat at 114.5 mph, bounced off the out-of-town scoreboard above the outfield fence, giving Springer his second-longest home run of the 26 he hit in 2018.
6 (t). 455 feet: September 15, 2020, at Minute Maid Park
There were no fans in Minute Maid Park in Houston when Springer hit his 10th home run of 2020, but the ballpark’s piped-in cheers gave Springer a supportive soundtrack as he trotted around the bases. In front of a backdrop of cardboard cutout fans, Springer drove a middle-of-the-zone fastball from Rangers pitcher Kyle Cody 455 feet over the Phillips 66 Home Run Pump in left-center field. The home run had an exit velocity of 111.9 mph and was the longest hit at Minute Maid Park during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.
5. 456 feet: June 25, 2017, at T-Mobile Park
Springer hit a career-high 34 home runs during an All-Star and Silver Slugger season in 2017, including a memorable blast in Seattle on June 25. The outfielder drove a slider from Ariel Miranda 456 feet with an exit velocity of 107.9 mph, sending the baseball bouncing off the batter’s eye in straightaway center field. The home run was his 22nd of the campaign.
4. 470 feet: May 1, 2021, at TD Ballpark
TD Ballpark in Dunedin was one of the three facilities that the Toronto Blue Jays called home in 2021, and was the site of Springer’s second dinger of the campaign. With a 3-0 green light against Atlanta’s Luke Jackson, Springer ripped a high fastball well over the fence in left-center field. The baseball left his bat at 116.4 mph, making it the 20th-hardest-hit ball in the big leagues in ’21, and sailed 470 feet.
3. 473 feet: May 31, 2017, at Target Field
Springer has top-10 home runs at multiple major league parks, including Rogers Centre and Minute Maid Park. His longest bomb in Minneapolis came on May 31, 2017, when he was a member of the Astros. Springer ripped a fastball from Ryan Pressly 473 feet into the second deck in left-center field. The home run had an exit velocity of 112.6 mph and was Springer’s longest of the season.
2. 474 feet: August 30, 2019, at Rogers Centre
Springer has hit lots of home runs at Rogers Centre for the Blue Jays, but his longest blast at the Toronto stadium was as a member of the visiting Astros. The 2019 home run came off a hanging slider from Trent Thornton, and left Springer’s bat at 112.6 mph. It sailed 474 feet, smacking off the facing of the third deck. The home run was Springer’s longest of 2019 and is the second-longest hit at Rogers Centre in the Statcast era.
1. 476 feet: May 7, 2018, at Oakland Coliseum
It’ll be a while before Springer forgets the at-bat he had in early May of 2018, against the Oakland A’s. Springer got a terrific swing on an elevated changeup from Brett Anderson, blasting the baseball to the cross-aisle in the left-center field seats. The 112 mph exit velocity, 476-foot blast was the seventh-longest home run hit in the big leagues in 2018 and is one of the longest hit at the Coliseum in the Statcast era. Most importantly, the home run is the longest of Springer’s career to date.
The 10 Longest Home Runs by George Springer are:
1. 476 feet: May 7, 2018, vs. Oakland
2. 474 feet: August 30, 2019, vs. Toronto
3. 473 feet: May 31, 2017, vs. Minnesota
4. 470 feet: May 1, 2021, vs. Atlanta
5. 456 feet: June 25, 2017, vs. Seattle
6 (t). 455 feet: September 15, 2020, vs. Texas
6 (t). 455 feet: April 16, 2018, vs. Seattle
6 (t). 455 feet: May 11, 2016, vs. Cleveland
9. 454 feet: July 4, 2016, vs. Seattle
10. 453 feet: August 13, 2019, vs. Chicago