Blue Jays Star Daulton Varsho Vital to a Potential Deep October Run

The Toronto Blue Jays will need this player headed into the postseason.

Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Daulton Varsho (5) runs the bases after hitting a solo home run in the ninth inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park. | Katie Stratman-Imagn Images

The Toronto Blue Jays are in a cutthroat battle for the AL East title right now and there is one player who has been underrated to both their success this year and the team's hope to making it to the world series — centerfielder Daulton Varsho.

Varsho has been a victim to injuries this year, but he is still plastered over Toronto's offensive production leaders. If he is healthy going into October the team will be nearly impossible to beat.

The Blue Jays have emerged as arguably the best team in the American League and one of the best in baseball. Back at the end of May when they sat at 25-27 it was hard to believe the ballclub could have such a turnaround, but they did. Now the team is fighting to win one of the best divisions in baseball and Varsho is going to be key to that.

Varsho this Season

Brad Penner-Imagn Images

Varsho is in his third season with Toronto and despite missing a nearly two-thirds of the season he has been able to step up to the plate. This is the first season of his career (sixth season in the majors) that he is posting an OPS over .799 at .890 with a near .600 slugging percentage in only 54 games. He has 18 homers and 47 RBI this year in hundreds fewer at-bats than the players ahead of him.

His season has been fairly limited which is frustrating to say the least for both him and the team. Varsho wasn't able to join the dugout until the end of April as he was still rehabbing a shoulder surgery from last season. Then at the end of May he suffered a left hamstring strain that would keep him off of the roster until August 1, but since then he has been a nice compliment to their starting lineup.

With Bo Bichette now on the injured list and both the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox right on their tail in the division Varsho will need to keep up his production. Luckily Varsho wasn't forced back to IL after being hit in the hand by a pitch which was a sigh of relief. The Blue Jays are in a duel with another American League division leader, the Houston Astros. Every game counts from here on out and Varsho is going to be a key piece to the team's success.