Toronto Blue Jays' Slugger Looking to Make Adjustments at Plate in Year 2 With Team

Entering his second year as a member of the Toronto Blue Jays, slugger Daulton Varsho says he is making some adjustments to his approach at the plate.

He says he focused too much last year on trying to hit for power and put too much pressure on himself after being traded from the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Mike Wilner of the Toronto Star had more with Varsho at Blue Jays' spring training:

He got out of sorts, he thinks, by trying to hit for more power.

"(That) got me just underneath the ball," he said, "missing a lot of pitches that I should be hammering and getting in bad counts when you're fouling off the ball you should be hitting."

Varsho's fly ball rate of 31.1 per cent was the highest in his career. And 19 per cent of those were in the infield, by far his highest pop-up rate. The plan this season is to hit the ball harder, not higher.

"It's not about how high you hit it, it's about how hard you hit it and how low on a line," he said. "That was my approach going into this off-season … being able to get that feel back of staying above the baseball.

The 27-year-old Varsho hit 20 homers with the Jays in 2023, but he only hit .220 with a .285 on-base percentage. The previous year with Arizona he hit 27 homers while hitting .235 with a .302 on-base percentage.

The Blue Jays have lost Whit Merrifield and Brandon Belt this offseason so they could be counting on Varsho more to help supply offense. He figures to be paired in the middle of the order with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette.

Toronto finished third in the American League East standings in 2023 and was swept in the wild card round of the playoffs by the Minnesota Twins.