Blue Jays Hold Daulton Varsho Out of Lineup Against Diamondbacks

The Toronto Blue Jays are trying to be cautious with Daulton Varsho after he was removed from Friday’s game.

Toronto Blue Jays center fielder Daulton Varsho. | Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images

For one night at least, the Toronto Blue Jays will have to do without center fielder Daulton Varsho.

The veteran center fielder was not in the starting lineup for Saturday’s game with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Myles Straw was in his place in the starting lineup. Varsho left Friday’s game with left knee discomfort, per the Blue Jays. Varsho complained about it before the game and tried to play through it, but he left the game after three innings.

Per Mitch Bannon of The Athletic on X (formerly Twitter) manager John Schneider said that Varsho was removed from Friday’s game as a precaution and said the outfielder was still day-to-day.

Without Daulton Varsho, What Now?

Toronto Blue Jays center fielder Myles Straw. | Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images

Toronto has two players with the ability to play in the outfield on the injured list — George Springer and Addison Barger. The pair are working their way back from a left big toe fracture and a left ankle sprain, respectively. Neither has started running yet, which means they have at least another week before they can start a rehab assignment.

For now, the Blue Jays have five healthy outfielders on the active roster — Eloy Jiménez, Nathan Lukes, Jesús Sánchez, Davis Schneider and Straw. For Saturday’s game, Lukes was batting leadoff and playing right field while Sánchez was batting fourth and playing left field. Jiménez was batting fifth and playing designated hitter.

When Varsho is in the lineup, he's a catalyst for anything the Blue Jays want to do offensively, though the lineup has sputtered overall. He’s batted primarily in the No. 2 and No. 6 spots in the order, with his batting average in the No. 2 spot at .333. He also hit all his home runs and all but one of his RBI in the spot. So, his absence, even for a day or two, is a problem.

Before the injury he was slashing .262/.333/.462 with three home runs and seven RBI. He did that in 19 games. But what he did a season ago is more indicative of his impact.

Varsho played in just 71 games last season as he missed the start of the campaign recovering from right shoulder surgery and then missed more time in the middle of the season with a right hamstring strain. But in the games that he did play the Blue Jays got every bang for the buck possible. He slashed .262/.333/.462 with 20 home runs and 55 RBI in 248 at-bats. He also delivered several highlight reel catches in center field.