‘No doubt about it’: Varsho could contend for Gold Glove honors
ST. LOUIS — Daulton Varsho raced back to the wall at Chase Field one night earlier this week, measuring his steps like he had done it hundreds of times before. In one motion, he jumped, caught the ball and crashed into the wall, then sprung to his feet and fired it back toward the infield.
It was an excellent play for any center fielder. It was even better for one with as little experience at the position as he has.
On Thursday night, Varsho, a converted catcher, started in center field at Busch Stadium against the St. Louis Cardinals. It was the 51st game he had started in the majors at the position. Counting another 11 he played there in minors, he has still less than half a full season’s experience in center.
And yet his defensive performance has earned Dave McKay’s praise — and it has the Diamondbacks’ venerable outfield coach saying the idea of Varsho contending for a Gold Glove award is entirely within reason.
“No doubt about it,” McKay said. Days before the season, after manager Torey Lovullo briefed reporters on the team’s plan to use Varsho mostly in center rather than behind the plate, Varsho mentioned, almost in passing, the idea of winning a Gold Glove. He did not back down from the thought this week.
“I feel like that’s always a goal for anybody that’s in the outfield,” Varsho said. “The guys who do it are perennial guys who know what they’re doing out there. They run the right routes. They know every single angle of their home ballpark and every other ballpark. I think that’s a lot you put on yourself, but it’s what I want to do and what I want to achieve.”
McKay sees little reason why Varsho couldn’t do it, pointing first to the reads and jumps the speedy Varsho gets.
“That’s the biggest part of winning a Gold Glove,” McKay said. “You can’t make 100 errors, but the biggest part is the ground you cover. You’ll see guys make no errors but don’t score real high in defensive runs saved because their range isn’t there. I think he’s got the hard part down. That’s covering ground.”
McKay understands how ambitious that might sound for a player so new to the position. The Diamondbacks had been developing Varsho strictly as a catcher until August 2019, when they put him in center field for four games late in the minor league season, plus another seven during the Double-A playoffs.
“The guys that have the fear of making a mistake, those are the guys that need more reps to where they get to the point where they feel comfortable,” McKay said. “But he’s not afraid to make a mistake. He’s not afraid. He’s coming fast because of that reason. He knows he can play. He knows he can run things down. And he’s not afraid to make a mistake. And he’s not afraid to work, either.”
Varsho working with McKay on the field before games has become a common sight during the season’s first few weeks. Not only will Varsho work with McKay alongside other outfielders, the two are occasionally working alone several hours before games.
“I think it’s just understanding my role and understanding what I can and can’t do,” Varsho said. “I know I can do a lot of different things out there because I’m athletic enough to run and take good routes. I think a lot of it comes down to your eyes being able to read balls and that comes with repetition and time. If you put in a lot of time during BP in getting the right routes, you’re going to be fine in the game. That’s the best thing you can practice to get the right reads you want to get.”
As for that catch he made at the wall at Chase Field earlier this week, a play that took a potential extra-base hit away from the Dodgers’ Justin Turner, Varsho said it wouldn’t have happened without the early work.
“I pretty much knew where the ball was and I knew I was going to have some contact when I jumped up in the air,” he said. “I just trusted it. That goes with having those balls in BP and trusting that you’re going to run the right route.”
McKay also has been impressed with how quickly Varsho has been able to get the ball back to the infield with strong, accurate throws to the cutoff man.
The only plays that have appeared to give Varsho trouble are those that have dropped in shallow center, balls that have involved coordinating with teammates to determine who has priority.
McKay says he wants to hear Varsho calling off teammates with more authority, saying that if he can’t hear it from the dugout than Varsho isn’t yelling loud enough. Varsho doesn’t think that’s the issue; he pointed out that it won’t matter how loud he yells if a large crowd is loud enough. He thinks it’s more about knowing his fellow outfielders, and he says he and his teammates already are getting better on such plays.