Blue Jays’ Daulton Varsho reaping rewards of improved plate discipline

Baseball

Published 12.06.2023

Blue Jays’ Daulton Varsho reaping rewards of improved plate discipline

For many of the season, Daulton Varsho‘s offensive manufacturing has been like an underwhelming approximation of his 2022.

That appears to be like prefer it may be about to alter.

Although Varsho’s .222/.290/.404 line won’t leap off the web page, he’s been considerably higher just lately, slashing .267/.323/.533 in his final 15 video games.

Without context these numbers look wonderful, however not like a blazing sizzling streak. His 136 wRC+ in these video games is star degree, however not outlandish for a hitter having a robust stretch.

The means Varsho has authored his latest success is much more encouraging for the outfielder than the outcomes, although. One motive for that’s the truth that he merely isn’t placing out.

The 26-year-old entered the season with a profession strikeout price of 24.0 per cent and he’s gone down on strikes simply 4 instances in his final 15 contests, posting the bottom Okay% of his profession over a span of that size.

The clearest rationalization for this stretch has been much better plate self-discipline from Varsho. While he hasn’t piled up walks throughout his latest stretch, he’s chasing fewer unhealthy pitches.

In his final 15 video games, he’s chased simply 22.7 per cent of pitches outdoors the zone, far lower than his 34.9 per cent within the first 46 contests of 2023. While he’s taking extra pitchers’ pitches, he’s been as aggressive within the zone as ever, swinging at 73.3 per cent of balls within the zone — a price matching his method earlier within the yr (74.1 per cent).

At the identical time that Varsho has lower down on his strikeouts, his energy stroke has come alive. His ISO in his final 15 video games sits at .267 and he’s hit 4 house runs — together with a 446-footer that’s his longest of the season, and the second-longest of his profession.

That energy manufacturing is supported by contact-quality numbers which can be considerably higher than what he managed earlier within the season.

Split	Average Exit Velocity	Hard-Hit Rate
First 46 video games	86.2 mph	35.4%
Last 15 video games	90.0 mph	41.8%

If Varsho had gotten just a few extra bounces going his means within the final three weeks he’d be within the midst of a scorching run that will be elevating his 2023 numbers in a profound means.

As it’s, he’s in the midst of a stretch the place he’s doing every part proper by avoiding strikeouts and making onerous contact constantly, however his rewards haven’t been proportional to the standard of his at-bats.

Varsho’s luck isn’t going to magically even out over the remainder of the season, however what he’s doing now might have one thing to inform us about the place he can go from right here.

It’s not practical to count on him to run a single-digit strikeout price whereas offering appreciable energy, however the truth he’s able to doing that for a few weeks at a time is undoubtedly a very good signal for the Toronto Blue Jays.