5 Blue Jays that need to step up soon to avoid being trade deadline sellers

Daulton Varsho

Finally, we have an unexpected candidate that has unexpectedly fallen onto this list in outfielder Daulton Varsho. So why does he need to step up his game for the Jays, as wasn’t he doing that already? After all, we are talking about the current Jays’ offensive leader in runs scored with 40, in home runs with 11, and in RBI with 35. On top of that, he has provided elite defense in the outfield as always, committing zero errors and registering 13 DRS already on the season.

Well, it is because Varsho hadn’t been providing the offense with consistency in recent weeks. In his first couple of months, he amassed 10 home runs and 30 RBI along with 31 runs scored to lead the Jays’ offensive attack. However, for the month of June, he has put up just one home run and 5 RBI in 18 games, with the bulk of it coming on one swing in his grand slam that he hit this past Sunday. More importantly, being the team’s main driving force for offense, Varsho hasn’t come through when it mattered most in clutch situations. He has hit a measly .182 with 21 strikeouts in 55 at-bats with runners in scoring position.

So with the bulk of the lineup struggling to generate runs and with Varsho the clear offensive leader of the team so far this season, it becomes more vital that he needs to take full advantage whenever he has the opportunity to cash in runners. As a result, he needs to turn it up one more notch to get the job done in high-leverage situations for the Jays. That way, he can ultimately live up to the claim by his manager that he’s “the best outfielder in baseball”.