Players of the Week: Springer, Votto
George Springer celebrated the Blue Jays’ return to Toronto by finding his form at the plate, while the Reds’ Joey Votto turned back the clock with one of the hottest power surges in Major League history. Those two accomplished veterans were named the AL and NL Players of the Week presented by Chevrolet, respectively, on Monday.
This is the sixth such award for Votto, who earned his first way back in September 2009. Now 37, the six-time All-Star first baseman has been showing that he can still swing the bat at an extremely high level. From July 24-30, Votto homered in seven consecutive games, becoming only the eighth player in AL/NL history to put together a streak that long. The damage included back-to-back two-homer games last Tuesday and Wednesday at Wrigley Field, both of which keyed victories for Cincinnati, which is battling to remain in the NL postseason picture.
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On Saturday, Votto came within inches of homering yet again and joining Ken Griffey Jr., Don Mattingly and Dale Long as the only players with homers in eight straight games. But his deep drive in the eighth inning at Citi Field bounced off the wall for a long single.
Still, Votto finished the week of July 26-Aug. 1 with a .375/.448/1.250 slash line, seven home runs and 11 RBIs. He reached the 20-homer mark for the season for the first time since 2017 and raised his overall OPS to .927.
Springer signed a six-year contract with Toronto as a free agent this past offseason but had spent much of the season on the injured list, while the team played in Dunedin, Fla., and Buffalo. That left Blue Jays fans waiting for the three-time All-Star outfielder to get things going at the plate, and to see him in person at Rogers Centre.
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Both happened this past week. In seven games, Springer hit .400/.516/.960 with five doubles, three home runs, seven RBIs, six walks and eight runs scored out of the leadoff spot. On Friday, in the team’s first game in Toronto since 2019, he went 3-for-4 with an RBI double against the Royals. On Saturday, he smacked his 40th career leadoff homer (eighth all time) and then went deep again in the third in front of his new home fans.
Springer, in winning his third career Player of the Week Award, has raised his OPS from .690 to .951 since July 16. And Toronto finished the week with four consecutive victories, pulling to within 3 1/2 games of an AL Wild Card berth.