3 Blue Jays who are proving their Spring Training stats were flukes, 3 who were legit

Daulton Varsho

Finally, we have Daulton Varsho, who was acquired from the Arizona Diamondbacks this offseason for Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Gabriel Moreno to help bolster the Jays’ outfield defence, while providing supplementary offence as well. It was believed that Varsho had some untapped offensive potential, so bringing him in to the hitter-friendly combines of the Rogers Centre should be able to unleash his power and production.

In Spring Training, Varsho came as advertised, displaying his defensive prowess day in and day out. However, he had struggled with his offence, tallying just a .196 batting average, .636 OPS, with only four runs scored, one home run, eight RBI and two stolen bases in 51 at-bats. The Jays’ faithful were beginning to worry about whether or not the trade will come back to haunt them if Varsho continued with that kind of production in the regular season.

Fast forward to the regular season and more than halfway through the 2023 season now, Varsho has proven what we witness in Spring Training is legitimate, as it is indeed the same Varsho for the regular season as well. Despite showing some infrequent power production, his offensive output has been a disappointment so far this season. In 96 games, Varsho has put up a feeble .214 batting average, .636 OPS, with 39 runs scored, 12 home runs, 31 RBI, and 12 stolen bases. He was expected to help replace some of the lost run production due to the departures of Gurriel and Teoscar Hernández, but unfortunately it hasn’t been quite up to the level needed.

Hopefully, fluke or legitimate, any struggling Jays players will find a way to turn it around in the second half and end up making valuable contributions to the ballclub in their race to the postseason.