'Unbelievable play': Blue Jays' Varsho makes stunning, backhanded catch in season debut

Ian Harrison · The Associated Press

· Posted: Apr 30, 2025 11:09 AM EDT | Last Updated: 10 minutes ago

Daulton Varsho and his Gold Glove defence are backmost successful the Toronto Blue Jays' outfield.

Hours aft being activated disconnected the injured list, Varsho turned successful a highlight-reel drawback astatine the basal of the partition successful centre-field successful his play debut.

Varsho was retreating to the partition successful centre connected a one-out thrust by Boston's Jarren Duran successful the 4th inning of Tuesday's nighttime 10-2 nonaccomplishment to Boston erstwhile helium mislaid his equilibrium arsenic helium reached the informing track, falling and rolling over. Able to get backmost up connected 1 knee, and with his backmost turned to location plate, Varsho had the beingness of caput to instrumentality retired his mitt and marque a singular catch.

"When I fell, I was like, 'Oh boy, it's going to beryllium somewhat adjacent me,"' Varsho said. "I saw it benignant of truly speedy and benignant of stuck my mitt out."

Blue Jays manager John Schneider was initially disquieted the tumble mightiness harm Varsho's close shoulder, which helium had country connected past September. Varsho said helium was fine.

Boston's Alex Bregman called it "one of the champion catches I've ever seen successful my life."

"I privation helium wouldn't person [caught it] due to the fact that it would person been a bully triple for Jarren, but you've got to extremity your chapeau to him there," Bregman said. "That was an unbelievable play."

Varsho won his archetypal Gold Glove grant with Toronto past season, erstwhile helium deed .214 with 18 homers and 58 runs batted in. The 28-year-old missed the commencement of this play portion recovering from surgery. He's a vocation .225 hitter with a .414 slugging percent and 79 homers implicit 5 seasons successful Arizona and Toronto.

Beloved successful clubhouse

He was 2nd connected Toronto successful Wins Above Replacement past year, a statistic that attempts to measurement a player's wide interaction connected a squad including defence. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. led the Blue Jays with a 6.2 WAR and Varsho was 5.0.

The 28-year-old erstwhile catcher has go 1 of the astir beloved players successful Toronto's clubhouse.

"Everybody was truly happy," said Varsho connected returning to Rogers Centre. "Got to spot a mates guys yesterday, which was good.

"Happy to beryllium backmost aft a agelong rehab process."

Also Tuesday, the Blue Jays activated right-hander Casey Lawrence a time aft claiming him disconnected waivers from Seattle. Right-hander Paxton Schultz and infielder Will Wagner were optioned to triple-A Buffalo.

Schneider said right-handed reliever Erik Swanson (carpal passageway syndrome) would transportation for the single-A Dunedin Blue Jays aboriginal Tuesday. Righty Ryan Burr (right enarthrosis inflammation) faced unrecorded batters earlier successful the day/

Three-time Cy Young Award victor Max Scherzer threw disconnected the mound Tuesday for the 2nd clip arsenic helium works toward a instrumentality from thumb inflammation.