AVON – Before George Springer’s home run ball landed in the left field stands at Rogers Centre in Toronto on Monday night to give the Blue Jays the lead in Game 7 of the ALCS against Seattle and ultimately send them to the World Series, Rob Dowling’s was already buzzing.
The baseball coach at Avon Old Farms, where Springer played his high school baseball, was deluged with messages as alumni were electrified by the latest historic accomplishment of one of their own.
“My phone blew up, or whatever the cliché is, before the ball landed,” Dowling said. “I got about 40 text messages within like a seven-minute span from people excited about George and reflecting on Avon. George is just an incredible story. What he has been able to do is awesome.
“It is all him, his talent, his character and his conviction, but for those of us who knew him when he was younger, it certainly makes us smile brightly or widely when good things happen for him.”
The 36-year-old Springer, a New Britain native, is now in his 12th season in the major leagues. He spent his first seven seasons with the Houston Astros, who selected him in the first round of the 2011 MLB Draft out of UConn with the 11th overall pick overall.
He signed with the Blue Jays as a free agent in 2021 and now has helped lead Toronto to its first World Series since 1993.
This will be Springer’s third World Series. He not only helped Houston win the 2017 World Series over the Los Angeles Dodgers, but he was named the MVP as he hit .379 (11 for 29) with series’ highs of five homers, three doubles, eight runs scored and seven RBIs.
Although Springer and the Astros lost the 2019 World Series in seven games to the Washington Nationals, he hit .296 in the series with team highs in runs scored (six) and doubles (four). He had a pair of homers and was third on the team in RBIs with four.
For his career, he has played in 78 playoff games with a batting average of .264, 54 runs scored, 85 hits, 20 doubles, 23 home runs and 47 RBIs. His 23 postseason home runs is tied for third all-time with Kyle Schwarber. They trail only Manny Ramirez (29) and Jose Altuve (27). His 20 career postseason doubles are seventh all-time while he is one run scored of tying for the 10th-most ever.
“Physically, the kid is extraordinarily gifted,” Dowling said. “At that level, everybody is gifted. George is more skilled than the regular MLB player, but his most significant advantage is who he is as a person, how he approaches the game, his ability to perform when the bright lights on are him. Those are the things that separate the good players from the great ones.
“George has proven and demonstrated that he is a great player,” Dowling said. “You could see that when he was in high school and at UConn, and now he is doing it on the highest stage the sport has to offer.”
Springer was drafted in the 48th round of the 2008 draft by the Minnesota Twins when he graduated from Avon Old Farms. Dowling said that wasn’t close to matching the talent he had.
A big component of draft status coming out of high school is signability, and Stringer’s parents, George and Maria, believed strongly that what was best for their son was becoming a well-rounded, well-educated individual as well as a great baseball player, and they made it clear to MLB teams that he was going to UConn.
“I am happy when good things happen to good people,” Dowling said. “George is an incredible athlete, but his personal story is something that has had my attention for a long time. He is a consummate pro and a team-first guy. He is a star player, but it is not always about him. All of those things flood my emotions when he has moments like this.
“George looks at challenges as opportunities. He was not only dealing with (a stuttering impairment) at one time, but he was a really undersized kid. He really learned how to play the game from a fundamental standpoint and became an incredible athlete physically.
“His dad was a great athlete. His mother was a recognized gymnast so certainly the physical tools were there, but it is an incredible story because of the mental aspect of George’s journey and the character that he now demonstrates to a large audience.”
The last time Avon Old Farms had a player in the major leagues was Juan Nieves, who graduated in 1983 before Dowling became the coach. In his 31 years at the helm, Dowling has had quite a few players get drafted and play minor league baseball, but Springer is his first major leaguer.
He gives the entire school someone to rally around.
“We are always rooting for our alums, and we are just happy for him,” Dowling said. “To see George achieve excellence and make such an impact on the game, he gives everybody from Avon Old Farms and those who know him personally reason to smile admiring his success.
“His family still lives in New Britain, and we see him in the offseason. He is just a great guy. He doesn’t big-time anybody. He is a wonderful person who is great to be around and great to root for.”