DENVER — It feels like every time we see Daulton Varsho in 2025, he’s hitting a home run.
His long rehab from 2024’s shoulder surgery and a frustrating hamstring injury this season mean we haven’t seen nearly enough of Varsho, but when he’s been healthy, he’s been a one-man Home Run Derby.
Varsho’s first home run in Tuesday night’s 10-4 win over the Rockies quickly became a forgotten blur when he connected with his second, one of the most impressive swings we’ve seen from a Blue Jays hitter this season. The loud, towering blast smacked off the facing of the third deck at Coors Field, which hangs high above the outfield fence and deep beyond it. By the end of the night, Varsho had driven in a career-high six runs.
At 467 feet, it’s the longest home run of Varsho’s career by a good margin, so this goes beyond a Coors Field special. Varsho might want to stick around Denver, though. Just the day before, he tied his previous career long with a 451-foot shot.
“It looked all sorts of right and sounded all sorts of right,” said manager John Schneider. “That’s a no-doubter anywhere.”
That inning was an absolute barrage. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. got the party started with his 17th home run of the season to the opposite field, and on the very next pitch, Addison Barger launched one of his own. Guerrero hadn’t even finished walking the dugout runway in the Blue Jays’ trademarked home run jacket, so he had to scamper back up the steps and slide it over Barger’s shoulders himself.
Guerrero, Barger and Varsho represent the Blue Jays’ three biggest sources of raw power — probably in that order with Bo Bichette making a case for himself — but Varsho is quickly becoming the most interesting name of the bunch.
Varsho has 23 hits this season … and 11 of them have left the yard.
“I think the ‘why’ is because I’m trying to get above fastballs,” Varsho said, “Then obviously, when the off-speed comes, I’m just clipping them underneath. I’m not trying to do anything different. I’m not trying to hit homers. I’m trying to hit a ground ball right back to the pitcher, to be honest. It’s about being able to be short and quick to the ball and the power will come. I’ve said it from the get go. If I can just control that, good things are going to happen.”
Both Varsho and Schneider are quick to praise hitting coach David Popkins and the staff, along with Hunter Mense and Lou Iannotti. The message for Varsho has been to simplify his approach and shorten his stroke. Varsho may not be 6-foot-5, but he’s built out of solid rock. If he hits it, it’s going somewhere.
Given Varsho’s injuries, we’re forced to stitch some of these small sample sizes together, but it’s all pointing in the same direction. Even when you look back to Spring Training, when Varsho played as the Blue Jays’ DH during the latter stages of his shoulder rehab, four of his eight hits in Grapefruit League games were home runs. During his most recent rehab stint coming back from the hamstring injury, three of his five hits were home runs.
Varsho is redefining quality over quantity, and while ratios like these are never going to stick, Varsho’s offensive profile can only benefit from taking a few steps in the direction of power. It’s like a “3-and-D” player in the NBA. If Varsho can play elite level defense — he was in center field on Tuesday — and change a few games with his bat along the way, that’s an incredibly valuable baseball player and one who fits this roster perfectly.
“We have different looks in our lineup,” Schneider said. “There’s guys who make a ton of contact, guys who can leave the yard and guys who can do both. This was obviously a big night from Varsho, a big night from Vlad. We can do it in a variety of ways, which is really important.”
Monday, it was Bichette with a career-high six RBIs. Tuesday, it was Varsho, and Wednesday might flip the spotlight to someone else. That’s what makes this lineup special, and over 162 games, that’s what makes all of this sustainable.
Some players are simply more capable of raising the Blue Jays’ ceiling than others, though, and Varsho sits near the top of that list. We all know he’s one of baseball’s finest defenders, but he’s starting to hit balls to places even he wouldn’t be able to catch them.
