It’s not a stretch to say that the Blue Jays have one of the best, if not the best, catching tandems in the league.
When we last looked at the backstop in the last Position by Position article, it seemed a remote possibility that the Jays could roll with three catchers.
However, on December 23rd, 2022, the Jays traded their top prospect Gabriel Moreno (and Lourdes Gurriel Jr.) for Daulton Varsho. In yesterday’s article, we looked at Daulton Varsho the outfielder, but he is also a catcher. That seems like a good place to start.
Daulton Varsho:
I went into larger detail about what Varsho could do with the bat, so let’s just focus on his defence behind the plate.
While Varsho is a fantastic defender in the outfield, behind the plate is a different story.
Catcher Defensive Adjustment is a statistic created by Baseball Prospectus, focusing on framing, blocking, and throwing. 0 is average, while a gold glove calibre defender has a CDA of around 10. In the case of Varsho, he had a -1.5 CDA with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2022.
Center fielder who plays catcher? Catcher who plays center field?@DaultonVarsho25 is one of one. pic.twitter.com/8K7V7O3e67
— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) April 17, 2022
In terms of Defensive Runs Saved, he isn’t any better. This past season, Varsho had a -3 DRS, which was actually an improvement from his -6 in 2021. He also saw limited time behind the plate, only catching 175 innings (down from 319 in 2021).
While Varsho can catch, it’s likely a case of if the Jays desperately need an emergency catcher. Even then, Varsho has plenty of value defensively in …
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Author: Brennan Delaney / Blue Jays Nation
