{"id":50550,"date":"2021-09-02T19:43:22","date_gmt":"2021-09-02T23:43:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=50550"},"modified":"2021-09-02T22:08:05","modified_gmt":"2021-09-03T02:08:05","slug":"daulton-varsho-second-half-tear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2021\/09\/02\/daulton-varsho-second-half-tear\/","title":{"rendered":"Daulton Varsho Is on a Second-Half Tear"},"content":{"rendered":"

Daulton Varsho<\/strong> Is Having a Monster Second Half<\/h2>\n

It was Sunday, July 11, 2021 \u2014 the last day before the All-Star Break. The site was Dodger Stadium. Arizona Diamondbacks<\/a> center fielder Daulton Varsho stepped to the plate in the top of the seventh with then-teammate Stephen Vogt on first, nobody out, and Scott Alexander on the mound. The night before, the Dodgers<\/a> had embarrassed<\/a> the Diamondbacks, 22\u20131. Varsho, at that point, was 0-for-2 in the game, which had dropped his 2021 slash line to .134\/.245\/.171. He was 11-for-82 on the season with three doubles and had not homered since September 15, 2020 in Anaheim against the Los Angeles Angels<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Alexander opened with a sinker down the middle that Varsho bunted foul. The next pitch was another sinker, slightly farther outside. Varsho took a full swing this time, getting under it enough to send a deep drive to left-center. Cody Bellinger tracked it to the wall but ran out of room. Gone.<\/p>\n

Although a late-inning meltdown<\/a> \u2014 capped by a three-run walk-off home run by Max Muncy \u2014 handed the Dodgers a 7\u20134 victory, the game gave the reeling Diamondbacks something positive heading into the All-Star Break. \u201cWe were in that game against one of the best teams in the big leagues,\u201d Varsho said. \u201cI know it didn’t work out. We lost that game\u2026(but) it was a good game. It was a quality game for all of us all around.\u201d<\/p>\n

Turning Point of the Season for Daulton Varsho<\/h3>\n

That home run was the beginning of a gigantic turnaround for Varsho. From that game forward, Varsho has slashed .288\/.373\/.613 (32-for-111) with seven doubles, a triple, nine homers, 20 RBI, 15 walks, three stolen bases in three attempts, and 22 runs scored. His wOBA (remember \u2014 read this on the same scale as OBP) is .406. By comparison, Philadelphia Phillies<\/a> right fielder Bryce Harper, San Diego Padres<\/a> utility man Fernando Tatis Jr., and Cincinnati Reds<\/a> outfielder Jesse Winker are each having offensive seasons for the ages. Here is the season-long wOBA for the three, respectively: .422, .411, .406. To put it bluntly, Varsho has had an incredible second half.<\/p>\n

This is all despite<\/em> cooling off since leaving Denver at the beginning of his team\u2019s recent 10-game road swing. That trip \u2014 which ended Sunday \u2014 took them to Denver for three games before going to Pittsburgh for three and Philadelphia for four. Had this article run on Monday, August 23, Varsho\u2019s slash line would have been .338\/.436\/.738 with a .476 wOBA since July 11. Regardless, Varsho is raising eyebrows all over the place.<\/p>\n

\u201cI Can Play up Here\u201d<\/h3>\n

This all means a lot to Varsho. The great stretch he\u2019s had has done a lot for his confidence in the sense of knowing that he can play in the majors. \u201cI can play up here, and that’s pretty cool, but knowing that I can stay up here and play who I am and be the player that I am is the biggest thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Embed from Getty Images<\/a>