Astros prospect Springer on verge of historic season

George Springer has gotten used to circling the bases this year. This weekend was no different.

Saturday, Springer raced around the bases with an inside-the-park homer and then broke into a more conventional home run trot when he went deep again on Sunday. The center fielder leads the Minor Leagues with 29 home runs, 10 of them in the 29 games since he was promoted to Triple-A Oklahoma City.

Springer, the Astros' No. 3 prospect, who has 33 stolen bases, is on the verge of becoming the first Minor Leaguer to have a 30-30 season since 2009, when A's outfielder Grant Desme hit 31 home runs and stole 40 bases.

And a 40-40 season, which hasn't been done in 57 years in the Minor Leagues, isn't out of the question for Springer with 35 games left on the RedHawks' schedule.

In 102 games between Double-A Corpus Christi and Oklahoma City, Springer is hitting .312 with a .613 slugging percentage. He played for the U.S. team in the Futures Game earlier this month and is ranked No. 27 on MLB.com's Top 100 prospects list.