DUNEDIN, Fla. — The Toronto Blue Jays are facing an intriguing decision on Daulton Varsho as Opening Day draws closer.
The centre fielder, who’s still working his way back from right rotator cuff surgery, has not been able to play the field but has looked impressive in his Grapefruit League at-bats as a designated hitter.
So, should the Blue Jays keep Varsho at the player development complex in Florida where he can focus on his rehab, or should they bring him North to open the campaign as a DH?
Manager John Schneider has been asked that a handful of times in recent days and, on Sunday, noted that he’ll have a definitive answer by the end of the week.
Varsho has been throwing at around 120 feet in distance but still needs to check a few boxes, with velocity being an essential one.
“Weird to have a radar gun on an outfielder,” Schneider quipped. “Trying to get up to at least close to where he was last year and see what that looks like.”
Varsho, who singled and walked in three plate appearances on Sunday, leads the team with four home runs this spring. In theory, the decision to have him break camp with the team would seem like an easy one, but complicating matters is that the Blue Jays have just one off day amidst their first 20 games of the season and will need to circulate players through the DH spot to offer them breathers.
“You never want to say, ‘No,’ but I think right now that wouldn’t be the best for him or us,” said Schneider of having Varsho open strictly as a DH. “I’ve had conversations with him about that. I would say right now that might be a little bit unlikely. Just trying to gauge where his arm is but I think we want to keep our options open in terms of who is occupying that spot.”
Varsho says he’s down with that plan.
“If it’s better for the team to have me start down here and just basically get my arm ready and know that when I can come up there, I’m the full-time centerfielder and playing every day, that might make the most sense,” Varsho said.
“I’m open to anything. Obviously, I want to be there with the team, but sometimes you gotta figure out what’s best for the team and what’s best for myself.”
The 28-year-old says the most challenging part of the process has been regaining his range of motion in his shoulder. It’s almost as if he’s had to teach himself how to throw again, and Varsho only recently arrived at an arm slot that he’s happy with.
As for the hitting, though, there are no issues. Varsho has clicked with new hitting coach David Popkins and assistant Lou Iannotti and says he’s been working with the staff on being more direct to the baseball with his swing.
He’s experimented with his bat placement and found that tilting the knob toward the catcher has worked well for him.
Varsho’s fly ball percentage has increased in each of his five big-league seasons, from 42.2 per cent in 2020 to 52.9 per cent last year. To combat that, he’s focused this spring on aiming to hit the ball back to the pitcher. When he does that, Varsho’s able to stay on top of the ball.
“When I think about hitting a basic ground ball back to the pitcher, those are when my line drives kind of come out,” he says. “And so, of the homers that I’ve hit, only one of them have been super high. The other ones have actually had true backspin and carry and were travelling on a line.
“So, it’s about trusting my work, trusting my line drives in batting practice and knowing that I’m going to hit the homers in the game by accident.”
Varsho describes himself as a “feel” guy and relies on what his body is telling him more than what the numbers say. He believes Popkins and Iannotti are meeting him on that wavelength.
“They know how to speak different languages, which is hard to find in this game because a lot of guys will have one way that you do it,” said Varsho. “For me, it’s a lot about feel, and they’re really good at being able to give me that “feel” when I’m doing work in the cage and practice.”
SPRINGER’S SPOT?
George Springer played right field on Sunday, marking his seventh time starting at the position this spring. That’s no surprise, given that it’s been his sole outfield spot over the past two seasons with the Blue Jays.
However, the club signed right-fielder Anthony Santander in the off-season, and the corresponding plan heading into spring training was to have Springer get some reps in left field to positionally accommodate the incoming slugger.
That’s seldom been the case so far with Springer starting in left just twice during Grapefruit League action. Conversely, Santander has started five times in left field compared to four in right.
Springer rates as a better defender — he registered 0 Outs Above Average in 2024, while Santander was at -2 — and one of the early subplots of the season will be where both players fit in the corner outfield spots.
“It’s still kind of up in the air, really,” said Schneider. “The goal of them playing a little bit of both (in spring) is mainly seeing what they do in left.
“We know what George can do in right, we know what Tony can do in right, so I think just trying to split it up to see what it looks like for each of them,” added the manager. “But I think at this point, (we) feel good with either one of them in either spot.”
