The Toronto Blue Jays have been without outfielder Daulton Varsho for a month as he recovered from offseason shoulder surgery. Now set to make his season debut on Tuesday, Varsho has been activated from the 10-day injured list and will bat sixth while starting in center field against the Boston Red Sox. Last season, he hit .214 with 18 home runs and 58 RBI over 136 games before undergoing season-ending surgery. He also earned his first Gold Glove Award.
Right-hander Casey Lawrence, recently claimed off waivers from the Seattle Mariners, will also be active for the game. To make room on the roster, the Blue Jays optioned right-hander Paxton Schultz and infielder Will Wagner to Triple-A Buffalo.
ROSTER MOVES:
OF Daulton Varsho reinstated from the 10-day IL and will be active for tonight’s game
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) April 29, 2025
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Blue Jays Reinstate Daulton Varsho from Injured List
The Blue Jays have held up well defensively in Varsho’s absence, but with the lineup struggling for power, the bigger impact would come if he can tap into the home run potential he’s flashed before. His .407 slugging percentage in 2024 would rank fourth on the current roster, trailing only Tyler Heineman, George Springer, and Myles Straw.
Toronto ranks 18th in the majors with a .240 team batting average and sits 29th in home runs with just 15. They also have the fifth-lowest fly-ball rate and fourth-lowest pull rate in baseball. The result: a lineup that ranks 26th in runs scored and 23rd in wRC+. Varsho is the antithesis of that contact-heavy, low-impact profile. Last season, he was the only Blue Jays hitter to both pull the ball (51.5%) and hit it in the air (52.9%) more than half the time.
Varsho’s Tweaks at the Plate
By spring training, Varsho had been fully cleared to hit and returned with subtle adjustments—namely, higher hand placement and a slightly more upright stance in the box. The change aimed to help him swing down on high fastballs and reduce his chase rate. The results were promising: he led the team with four home runs in Grapefruit League play and posted the third-best slugging percentage among Blue Jays with at least 15 at-bats.
However, that momentum didn’t carry into his minor-league rehab stint, where he hit just .120 across seven games while ramping back up to game speed.
Even if Varsho rediscovers his spring form, he won’t be able to fix the Blue Jays’ offensive struggles alone.
Main Photo: © Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images
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