The Daulton Varsho everyone expected at the plate may have appeared

It hasn't been an ideal start for the Toronto Blue Jays. The bats have gone quiet, more than $100 million sits on the injured list, and the current record of 6-9 (at the time of this writing) is nothing to celebrate. It's not the start fans anticipated, despite plenty of baseball left to be played.

That's not to say everything is grim in Toronto. Of course, there are positives during a time when people are starting to feel hopeless. One of those positives comes in the form of a certain defensive gem who was held back by injuries in 2025. If he's starting to pop off, maybe the blow of a slow start can be alleviated.

Varsho's hot bat could be the spark the Blue Jays need

Daulton Varsho, who is in the final year of his current contract, left fans wondering what his production would've been like if he had been healthy and played all 162 games in 2025. In 71 games, Varsho was a 20-home run hitter with a slugging of .548 and a wRC+ of 123. The value was certainly there, but he was riddled with injuries, including a hamstring strain and a hand injury, which put him on the shelf for at least two months.

2026 arrives, and the power that Varsho showed in the spring was starting to return. In 19 games, Varsho slashed .380/.426/.820. His OPS of 1.246 and five home runs both led the Blue Jays in Grapefruit League action. Although it's spring, that's still something to take notice of ahead of the games that count.

Into the regular season, and that power seemed to vanish. In his first 10 games, Varsho slashed .188/.278/.250 with an OPS of .528 and just one RBI. Not what you wanted to see from somebody who looked like he was set to have an offensive (and potential final) year with the Blue Jays. Then manager John Schneider inserted him to bat second in the lineup, and his fortune started to change.

Since batting second as of April 7 against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Varsho has shown his offensive potential, with a slash line of .350/.409/.750 and an OPS of 1.159. He would go on to record seven hits since then, which included back-to-back days with home runs and five RBIs.

In the madness of the injured list being piled up with a lot of key contributors, seeing Varsho step up, especially batting second ahead of Vladimir Guerrero Jr., is a welcome sight for the team. The Blue Jays need to catch as many breaks as they can and essentially try to stay floating as they await their IL reinforcements.

Varsho is excelling at limiting his strikeouts (92nd percentile via Baseball Savant) and his swing-and-misses, which is needed for a team that has the fewest strikeout totals in the league (104). While his other current percentiles are low (such as his batting run value in the 50th percentile), should his hot stretch continue, then fans have nothing to worry about.

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