Could a pair of Blue Jays contend for Comeback Player of the Year?

Could the Toronto Blue Jays have not one, but two candidates for Comeback Player of the Year? After frustrating seasons in 2024, both George Springer and Bo Bichette have made their mark on 2025 in a big way, while looking like the stars that fans expected them to be from the jump. Not only has their resurgence onto the scene reignited their own careers, but it’s also been a driving force behind the Jays’ push to October.

George Springer

While Bichette’s 2024 season was derailed by injuries, Springer’s frustrations came in a different form. Springer could simply never get it going, although it never slipped into his defensive production. 2024 saw Springer slash a carrer-low .220/.303/.371 with a mere .674 OPS in 145 games played. Springer didn't just underperform in the eyes of Jays fans, as his season was one of the worst among qualified hitters in the league.

Springer's performance across all of 2024 resulted in a 'demotion' out of the leadoff spot, a role that he'd held down since his days with the Astros. When you crack open the hood, it's clear why Springer struggled so mightily. In short, his hard-hit rate and exit velocities dropped significantly. To understand the scope of Springer's case for the award, it's essential to highlight his major areas of improvement.

His massive leap stems from exit velocity, which currently sits at 89.6 mph with a max exit velocity of 113.3 mph, whereas last year he sat at 87.5 mph while maxing out at 110.6 mph. Springer is also barreling the ball at a rate of 14.4%, a significant improvement from last year's 9.3%. When diving into how he stacks up against the league, the 2024 and 2025 results are night and day.

Springer is reversing the aging curve, as he has been able to generate much more power this year from bat speed. His bat speed in 2024 was in the 52nd percentile, and it's now in the 69th. His 14.4% barrel percentage is in the 90th percentile of the league this year, whereas he was in the 63rd percentile in 2024.

In terms of pitch mix, he's tearing the cover off the ball when sinkers are thrown to him, which is a big jump from last year. In 2025, he's hitting .413 with a 52.1% hard hit rate against the sinker, as opposed to a .239 with a 41.5% hard hit rate in 2024. His overall hard hit rate of 45.7% is the highest of his career. The list of areas of improvement could go on and on, because aside from whiff rate, Springer has improved in every single area of his game.

George Springer has improved in almost every metric this year, which has resulted in a complete resurgence for the 35-year-old, allowing him to slash .292/.383/.518 with a .913 OPS thus far in 2025, the sixth-best OPS in the major leagues.

Bo Bichette

Bichette's down year, on the other hand, was completely unexpected for Jays fans. After going down with constant injuries (right calf strain, then right middle finger fracture later on in the season), he was never able to get his footing again, but he has absolutely exploded back onto the scene in 2025. In 2024, Bo finished his season with a slashline of .225/.277/.322 and an OPS just under .600. He also belted just four homers on the season.

Most Jays fans knew that he'd return to his old form, but not many people expected him to lead the major leagues in hits up to this point (158). Bichette has been able to tee off on offspeed pitches this year, which can be factored into his turnaround.

In 2025, he is batting .317 against offspeed pitches, while he hit just .150 against them in 2024. Overall, his quality of contact has improved drastically (3.1% weak contact compared to 4% in 2024), which has resulted in his ability to rack up hits at an insane rate, like fans knew he was capable of.

Not only is Bichette's massive bounce-back year helping the Jays during their stretch, but he is also looking like one of the better shortstops in the league once again. Bichette's bounce back can be boiled down to a few different metrics. In 2024, his barrel rate was 4.4%, whereas it has jumped to 8% this year.

The hard hit rate has improved as a result, as he sports a 48.9% compared to 43.5% last year. Bichette's swinging instincts have also improved this year, as he holds a 14.8% strikeout rate after a rate of 19% in 2024. All that being said, Bichette has re-emerged as one of the best shortstops in the league once again. In 2025, he is slashing .298/.342/.466 with an .808 OPS, including 16 home runs, which is plenty enough proof that he should be re-signed this offseason.

With both George Springer and Bo Bichette bouncing back, the Blue Jays haven’t just gained two Comeback Player of the Year candidates; they’ve regained two stars at the heart of their lineup.