Coming into the 2014 season I thought that Springer was finally going to make the roster out of spring training.  As it turns out he was once again sent down to the minors where he played for the Astros AAA affiliate club.  It didn’t take long though before the Astros were compelled to call him up to the major league club.

Springer started out well upon getting called up by hitting safely in his first five games, but since then has gone hitless in his last ten at bats.  With a player who strikes out as much as Springer does there are going to tons of hot and cold streaks, as he is just incapable of putting the ball in play consistently enough.  Springer struck out 26.4 percent of the time during his minor league career and as expected with the better pitching in the majors he has actually gotten worse.  Through 30 at bats Springer has struck out a whopping 11 times already, for an insanely high 36 percent of his bats.  Despite it being a very small sample size it certainly is troubling as these strikeout issues are not something new to him.

It is going to be extremely difficult for Springer to be an effective hitter if he cannot learn to put the ball in play more consistently.  All the power and speed that he flashed in the minors is useless when you are walking back to the dugout without putting the ball in play, over a third of the time.  There is always the chance that he won’t be able to stick with the big league club if he can’t cut down on the strikeouts.  Strikeouts are rally and momentum killers, and generally teams only deal with batters who strikeout a lot when they provide well above average power numbers.  The Astros can’t afford to have a second Chris Carter in their lineup, as he is already providing more than his fair share of strikeouts.

If he is able to bat .250 he will provide an adequate amount of steals and homeruns.  Springer is worth putting on your watch list but I would wait to use a roster spot on him until he proves that can hit the ball more consistently.