Daulton Varsho likely to miss start of Blue Jays season
Photo credit: Blue Bird Banter
In what is a blow to the Blue Jays 2025 season, reigning gold glove centre fielder Daulton Varsho will not be ready for the start of the year.
Varsho had his 2024 season prematurely ended after crashing into a wall on September 17 and was later diagnosed with a torn rotator cuff.
While this is undeniably bad news for the Jays, it is something they have been preparing for since season's end.
As Blue Jays insider Ben Nicholson-Smith reported a little while back, General Manager Ross Atkins was noted as saying that "it could be unrealistic" to expect Varsho to be ready on time.
It could be unrealistic - GM Ross Atkins
While Varsho's offensive numbers dropped for the 2nd year in a row, he proved himself an elite defender with +99 wRC, an astonishing 28 DRS, and a 3.1dWAR, which was tops in the majors.
Fortunately the Blue Jays have several internal options ready to take over the centre field job. While Joey Loperfido and Jonatan Clase both saw time in CF last season, it feels like Nathan Lukes has the edge heer.
Lukes didn't initially receive a lot of playing time when he came up with the Jays in 2023, but it feels like he is starting to be trusted with more playing time. He has certainly earned the first shot at playing centre.
If the Blue Jays really want to get creative that could temporarily move George Springer to CF and use some combination of Addison Barger, Loperfido, and Lukes in the corner spots. However, given that Springer was fully healthy last year, the Blue Jays may elect to keep in him in RF.
There has been no official word yet on how much time Daulton Varsho will miss. It be as little as two weeks. Although May 1st seems like a more realistic goal. Either way, the Blue Jays are prepared.
| POLL | ||
DECEMBRE 27 | 414 ANSWERS Daulton Varsho likely to miss start of Blue Jays season Who should play CF in Varsho's absence? | ||
| Nathan Lukes | 108 | 26.1 % |
| Joey Loperfido | 132 | 31.9 % |
| Jonatan Clase | 61 | 14.7 % |
| George Springer | 113 | 27.3 % |
| List of polls | ||
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