Daulton Varsho catches on quickly to the new Jays way. Quite the bunter, too

DUNEDIN, Fla.—Maybe somebody somewhere on the planet had a grander weekend than Daulton Varsho back on Aug. 13 and 14, 2021. But not in the baseball universe.

A walk-off home run for the Arizona Diamondbacks, then caught a no-hitter by Tyler Gilbert in the rookie’s first major-league start.

Back-to-back exclamation marks for the bullet-headed Varsho, who’s built like a fire plug with the stocky dimensions of a footballer — which he’d been in high school as a first-team all-state safety in Wisconsin.

Nineteen months later — and rather to his astonishment — Varsho comprises one-third of the defensively buttressed Blue Jays outfield and the catcher’s mitt is tucked into a high shelf in his clubhouse locker, to be retrieved only when he’s called upon to make an infrequent appearance in the squat position. Because that’s not why Toronto secured the 26-year-old’s services in a rather gobsmacking December trade that sent Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and No. 3 MLB prospect Gabriel Moreno, the real centrepiece, to the Snakes.

Whole lotta talent was desert-bound in a swap that might not be properly assessed for months, perhaps even years to come, given the projection for young catcher Moreno, a jewel in the Jays system. At the very least, once the trade shock wore off, it stroked Varsho’s vanity to be held in such high esteem by Toronto.

“Yeah, I was surprised. You get drafted by an organization, you think you’re going to be there till your free-agent years. Obviously they (Arizona) made that choice to be able to take two guys they thought were valuable for them. It does hurt, but at the same time I’m in a great spot. All the guys here have made me feel very happy and at home, and it’s been a lot of fun so far.”

From the first state of the union address by manager John Schneider at the start of spring training, Gold Glove finalist Varsho was made well aware of this team’s plotted path for 2023, in the wake of a stupendous all-over collapse in Game 2 of the wild-card series with Seattle last October. A sweeping reinvention of the Jays, with the emphasis on superlative defence.

“I knew what their overall goals were: a high priority on baserunning and defence. Those are the two things I do really well. I know I can bring those two things to the table, be able to do a really good job of it. And hitting is another aspect of my game — I’m still trying to work on being one of the better hitters in today’s game.”

The batting average (.235 last season) could be better, but Varsho, yet another coveted lefty to balance the exceedingly right-tilted lineup, racked up 27 home runs for the D-Backs with a 4.6 WAR, making him one of Arizona’s best players with 16 stolen bases to boot.

Perchance the Jays did overpay for Varsho in addressing their nightmarish defence in the outfield. But Varsho is a loud-tool kind of player with one further and vanishing skill as a volume bunter. He bunted 14 times in 2022, 14th-most in the majors, which might seem counterintuitive for someone with considerable pop in his bat. Of those 14, 10 were with the bases empty, so he wasn’t even trying to move over a runner, nor were they utilized to thwart the now-banned shift.

“I’m a big-time bunter,” he declares proudly. “That’s my objective for the year: try to get as many bunts and base hits as I can. But that obviously depends on the defence and the pitcher, trying to understand matchups, ebbs and flows of the game. Maybe not feeling great, you lay one down, get a hit, get on base. I really enjoy it because it does frustrate a lot of people.”

Varsho didn’t even transition into a full-time outfielder until a year ago. But that’s now what is most succulent to the Jays, in an outfield with stalwart Kevin Kiermaier and George Springer sidling over to right field. All three have played centre, which is pivotal.

“I think it’s just being able to understand what balls we can get to, and being able to have that non-verbal communication,” Varsho explains. “Being able to talk to each other without being able to talk to each other, you know? Especially in a noisy ballpark where you can’t hear anything. I think me and Kevin play the same way. We go out for the ball really hard, but knowing which balls we can get to and which balls we can’t. That’s going to be huge, understanding that those collisions that could possibly happen aren’t going to happen that often.”

The football background is an attribute with deftness of da feet, sprightly tracking to make a catch because a spinning baseball is not altogether different from a spiralling football. A sturdy outfield will clearly provide immense confidence for pitchers.

“It allows them to throw their pitches, do what they want to do, and be able to throw over the plate instead of trying to nit and pick and trying to hit the corners. I know from a catcher’s perspective how hard it is to throw your stuff over part of the plate and let the hitter basically put it into play. If we can allow them to do that, it’s going to be a lot of fun for everybody out there because we’re all going to be able to catch a lot of balls.”

Among the most delighted at this turn of events is outfield coach Mark Budzinski.

“To go from being behind the plate one year in the big leagues to the outfield and being one of the best-rated defenders in the game is impressive,” he says of Varsho. “I can see why. I had his dad as a coach, as a player in the Phillies organization. Now that was an outfielder. He was very detail-oriented and his son’s the same way. Just cares a lot about being a complete player, in the box and in the outfield.”

Varsho is the spawn of former player, scout, coach and manager Gary Varsho. The son was named for Gary’s teammate and close friend, the late Darren Daulton. Catcher sensibilities still lie close beneath the surface.

“I’m still going through pitch calls in the outfield,” Varsho says, “understanding how pitchers pitch, making little adjustments out there: one step forward, one step backward, left or right, being able to cheat a little bit.

“That never goes away.”

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