As he is wont to do, Blue Jays outfielder George Springer got things started quickly against the Astros on Saturday.
That's a 376-foot leadoff home run that left Springer's bat at 102.7 mph -- all at the expense of a Luis Garcia cutter. That's the first of his two homers on the day, and at present Springer in his second season in Toronto is slashing a robust .304/.356/.595 with six dingers in 21 games.
Now let's focus on that "leadoff" part of the equation. Springer recently notched his 200th career home run in this, his age-32 campaign. So he brings uncommon power to the leadoff spot. Speaking of which, here's your updated leaderboard for most career home runs to lead off a game:
Not surprisingly, the luminous Rickey Henderson leads all comers and does so by a cavernous margin. Springer, though, is working his way up the ledger. He compares even more favorably once you consider how often he's taken advantage of his leadoff opportunities. Let's apply the context of opportunity to that leaderboard:
Player
Leadoff home runs
At-bats leading off game
At-bats/leadoff home run
Rickey Henderson
81
2,462
30.4
Alfonso Soriano
54
723
13.4
Craig Biggio
53
1,407
26.5
Ian Kinsler
48
1,034
21.5
Curtis Granderson
47
890
18.9
George Springer
46
601
13.1
Jimmy Rollins
46
1,438
31.3
As you can see above, Springer is tops among the all-time leadoff home run hitters when it comes to the frequency of homers. He's barely ahead of Soriano and well ahead of everyone else. To be sure, Springer plays and has played in an era that's highly conducive toward hitting home runs, but his outputs are impressive in any context.
As for the gross totals, catching Henderson atop this ledger is probably out of reach. However, Springer is still performing at a peak level, and he's signed in Toronto through the 2026 season. Later in his career, he'll likely be moved down in the order, but for at least the next handful of seasons he should get plenty of opportunities to add to his tally. As such, don't be surprised if Springer one day settles in at No. 2 on the list of most prolific leadoff home run hitters in MLB history.
