Blue Jays: Five bold predictions ahead of the 2022 season

2- Springer is healthy, top 10 MVP finish

One of the biggest questions of the Blue Jays’ offseason has been around how they’ll replace the production that Marcus Semien provided in 2021. I don’t know that any one player is going to be able to do that as a new infield addition, but thankfully they shouldn’t have to do it alone. Not as long as George Springer is able to stay off of the Injured List.

The 32 year old was only healthy for 78 games last season, but during that time he showed fans why the Blue Jays signed him to a six-year, 150 million dollar pact last winter. Simply put, Springer is one of the best hitters in baseball when he’s healthy, and he produced at that level while mostly playing on one leg when he was actually able to take the field.

The 3x All-Star finished the season with a slash line of .264/.352/.555 with 22 home runs, 19 doubles, and 50 RBI over just 299 at-bats. That was good for 2.4 bWAR, and on par for a five-win season if he had been healthy throughout the year. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case, but I don’t think we’re looking at a chronic injury situation here.

Springer will likely always have a few injuries here and there due to the aggressive way that he plays the game, but I expect that he’ll be able to play in at least 135 or more games in 2022, and will be one of the best hitters in the American League. Adding that consistent weapon to the likes of Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette, Teoscar Hernandez, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and more will help the Blue Jays move on from Semien, even if that’s hard to do with an All-Star/Silver Slugger/3rd place finisher in the MVP race.

I won’t go as far as predicting an MVP award for Springer, or even stating that he’ll receive the most votes in that category on his own team, but I expect that the Jays will receive a more healthy and productive version of their star centre fielder in 2022.