Blue Jays: Another example of why George Springer is the easiest player to root for

George Springer is one of the most likable players in Toronto Blue Jays franchise history. Fans of them team were already well aware of this.

Springer, 33, has been a beloved figure in both Houston and Toronto over the course of his nine-year major league career.

You may or may not remember, but he took part in a baseball clinic for the youth who were affected by the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting and he also donated $100,000 to Minute Maid Park employees during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Jesse Sanchez, a longtime writer for MLB.com and one of the better Twitter follows around, recently penned an article centering around his son, Mateo, and the stutter that he has had to deal with as he grows up.

Springer, like young Mateo, also has had to deal with a stutter over the course of his life. You begin to search "George Springer" on Google and "George Springer stutter" is one of the first recommended results. This has been well documented over the years.

Sanchez mentions in his wonderfully-written piece that his son meets with a speech and language pathologist every week to utilize different strategies that may help him push through the stutter. He hopes to follow the path of Springer, who has gradually began to grow out of his stutter over the years.

Mateo and Springer first met in 2017 when Springer was a member of the Houston Astros. Sanchez details how he knew Alex Cora, the Astros bench coach at the time, and was able to set up a meeting between his son and the superstar outfielder.

A short while later, Jesse and Mateo are mingling with Jose Altuve, Carlos Beltrán, Carlos Correa, Cora and Springer. This marked the beginning of a friendship that is still going strong to this day.

Springer regularly performs charity work on the side of his baseball career. He is a spokesperson for the Stuttering Association for the Young (or SAY) and hosts an annual George Springer Bowling Benefit at Camp SAY, a summer camp for youth who experience a stutter.

It's easy to understand how ruthless people can be in today's age. Mateo and George are courageous in their public efforts to embrace their stutters and wear them with pride instead of desperately trying to hide it and grow out of it. This is such a beautiful story and I'm glad that they have found their way to each other. Here's to a relationship that lasts a lifetime for the two of them.