MLB: George Springer reveals the role he doesn’t want to play when he returns

The veteran outfielder George Springer of the Toronto Blue Jays, you will begin your rehab assignment with the Buffalo Bisons by Triple-A next Tuesday night in Rochester, an important step in the star’s return to a lineup that is already one of the best in baseball.

Outfielder Springer opened the season on the disabled list with a right quadriceps strain, and after coming back for just four games in late April, he landed back on that list with the same injury. The 31-year-old outfielder has been running the bases and increasing his baseball activities for the past 10 days, but this is the news the Blue Jays have been waiting for the entire time:

The Blue Jays have a plan for how this will start, but from there, they will evaluate Springer on a daily basis. He is scheduled to play five innings on the field on Tuesday, increasing slowly in the games that follow, but the Blue Jays will be understandably cautious given how his latest comeback unfolded.

When Springer last returned on April 28, he returned as a designated hitter and saw no time on the field. Springer even had to leave in the middle of a game due to fatigue in his right quadriceps, which the Blue Jays want to avoid. Manager Charlie Montoyo is confident that this time it will be different.

Springer’s return will have a pervasive impact on this lineup, particularly when it comes to the Blue Jays outfielders.

The designated position will be part of the solution, of course, but this will return the Blue Jays to the situation we hoped to see as we open the season. At the time, Randal Grichuk seemed like the odd man and has said he didn’t expect to play much in 2021. Instead, he has run with his shot, hitting .273 with 13 home runs and a .795 OPS while playing 63 games total. Teoscar Hernández has also been hot, so it may be Cuban Lourdes Gurriel Jr. who is feeling the tightest now.

Then comes the question of where Springer will hit. He was projected as the Blue Jays’ leadoff hitter at the start of the year, given the success he had while spending most of his career in that exact spot, but Marcus Semien has been playing the best baseball of his career in Toronto’s lineup.

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Certainly, it can be argued that any combination of Semien and Springer at the 1-2 spots would work against Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Stacking the bases in front of baseball’s best hitter can only help, but regardless of how this plays out, the Blue Jays will ultimately get on with it. they’re getting closer to the lineup they envisioned when they signed Springer to a six-year deal for a club-record $ 150 million in January.