The Baseball 9 representing UConn in 2009, 10 and 11' were just loaded with Talent. LOTS of talent....Mike Nemeth, Mike Olt, Nick Ahmed, Doug Elliott, Pierre LaPage & Billy Ferriter. Throw in Matt Barnes, Kevin Vance, Greg Nappo and Elliott Glynn on the hill....Between the 2010 & 11' Teams, they won 93 games and reached a Super Regional....While many of these guys had great careers at J.O. Christian Field, none was better or funnier than Centerfielder George Springer...
The New Britain native had baseball in his blood from the day he was born. His grandfather, George Sr came to the US from Panama at age 17, attended Teachers College of CT (now CCSU) and pitched for four years....His Dad, George Jr., played for the 1976 Forrestville LL Team that went to the Little League World Series and went 2-1 under a far different format we know today....
Would you believe George was 5'2" when he was a High School Freshman ?? After one year at New Britain H.S., he went to Avon Old Farms to finish High School. Yes, the growth spurt came as between his time at AOF and summer ball with Team Connecticut Baseball. Not to mention his inability to hide in the classroom as George dealt with a stuttering issue growing up. Confidence went up on the field too. By the time he was a senior, not only was he the AOF Baseball MVP, he also was the TCB MVP that summer...Where he was drafted by the Minnesota Twins, but chose playing for Coach Penders at UConn instead.
That freshman year of 2009, how about .358, a UConn Freshman record 16 homers and 57 rbi....75 runs, 76 hits and 12 stolen bases...Big East Rookie of the Year, All Big East First Team and a Baseball America Freshman All American...That was followed up in the Cape League with Wareham, where with the wood bat, hit .261 with 3 homers and 25 rbi
2010 put UConn on the map with a school record 48 wins and a 20-6 Big East record that included a school record 22 game win streak....Springer's average a bit lower in the last season of the "live" bats...337, 18 hr...82 hits, 84 runs, 60 walks a .491 on base % and 33/35 stolen bases while patrolling centerfield....A 2nd team All Big East Selection...All Northeast and New England Teams in a year UConn hosted a regional in Norwich.
Mike Olt gone after 2010, but the core back in 2011 ,another 40 win season (45) that included another two seed in the NCAA's and a stunning run out of the losers bracket to win the Clemson Regional, that included a dominating, winner take all game to beat the Tigers and advance to the programs first Super Regional against South Carolina, the reigning Champs...Where that night Springer and Matt Barnes were drafted in the first round of the MLB Draft...Springer 11th overall by the Houston Astros...The Huskies lost both games to the Gamecocks, but Springer with the defensive gem of his UConn career, with a great over the shoulder catch at the wall in the 8th inning of game two on a bum hamstring...
His last year as a Husky, George hit .343 with 12 homers and 77 rbi...61 runs, 31 stolen bases and a .608 slugging %..earning him Big East Player of the Year and multiple First Team All American honors....His career .346 average is top 10 all time at UConn...220 runs (1st), 46 HR (1st) 10 Triples (T3rd) 453 total bases (2nd) 128 bb (5th) 242 hits (5th) 53 doubles (5th) 196 rbi (2nd) and 76 stolen bases (4th) with an 86% rate of success...
His rise to the Majors took three years....making his MLB debut with Houston in April 2014. He cut his strike outs down and became an effective leadoff hitter with power by the time 2017 rolled around and you know the rest of the story...World Series MVP in a victory over the Dodgers where he hit 5 homers, tying a World Series record...In six major league seasons, Springer is a 3x All Star with a career .270 average 160 homers and 426 rbi and a two time Silver Slugger Winner.
Off the field, Springer got married in 2018...and while growing up with a Stuttering issue which he has overcome, he is a spokesman for SAY.org (Stuttering Association for the Young) He also hosts a Celebrity Bowling event in Houston...Recent;y, he donated $100,000 to Minute Maid Park Employees affected by the Covid-19 Pandemic...
Connecticut's Own George Springer, now a baseball Superstar and always....A UConn Legend