Varsho had an axe to grind — almost literally

DUNEDIN, Fla. — In tiny Chili, Wis. — population 226 — there is a battered old tree that bore the brunt of Daulton Varsho’s first off-season steps to become a more productive hitter.

Until the weather got too cold, Varsho would wield an axe against that strapping oak on his father Gary’s property, some aggressive swing therapy following an initial season with the Blue Jays that he feels didn’t exactly go his way.

“The idea came from my dad as a way of getting oldschool and just being an athlete,” Varsho said in a Sunday morning interview at the Jays’ player development complex. “Get an axe in your hands and start swinging.”

As disappointed as Varsho was with his output at the plate — batting .220 with 20 home runs (down from .235 and 27 in his first full major-league season the year before with the Diamondbacks) — the unconventional work wasn’t just a release of frustration, however. There was some thought beyond the chop from Gary, a former major-league player and coach.

“I wasn’t swinging down like you would if you were trying to chop the tree, but where you are staying straight. So basically, the swing is staying through the zone for a longer period of time,” said Varsho, who was dealt to Toronto in December 2022 for Lourdes Gurriel Jr., and catching prospect Gabriel Moreno. “It was 20 swings max and something where it had an athletic feel of just doing it and not thinking about it.

“You know that if you make a bad swing with that axe, it’s not going to feel good when you hit the tree. That was the thought process. That tree is not going anywhere. It’s old and it’s hard and my dad’s going to keep it around.”

The unorthodox beginning to the off-season serves as a nice peek into Varsho’s personality, a player who won over his teammates last season with his hustle, superb defence in left field and his easy-going ways. After returning from Toronto — driving a U-haul up and around the Canadian side of Lake Huron — Varsho got back to his Wisconsin roots (and not just the trees.)

“For me, every season I enjoy getting back and being out in the woods,” Varsho said. “It’s one of those things where it’s an easy way for me to decompress. I bought a piece of land there and we really enjoy it, so I was busy working on it.

“It’s something I enjoy with my family and that was my way to wind down.”

By U.S. Thanksgiving, Varsho had returned to his more traditional preparation, albeit with a break to make the 2.5-hour drive to Green Bay on Dec. 3 to see his beloved Packers beat the eventual Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs 27-19.

There was plenty of time in the off-season for Varsho to focus and regroup, a mindset he packed with him to Florida.

“Last year, if you watch a lot of my games, I was underneath a lot of balls, foul-tipping pitches I should have been hammering,” said Varsho, part of the reason his dad suggested the axe therapy. “I just think there was a ton more in there for me to get better. There were a ton of pitches last year that I fouled off early in the count that, man, I know that I can hit those. I was basically trying to do too much.”