Four Blue Jays Takeaways: Daulton Varsho’s new swing, Anthony Santander’s search and more

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Don’t worry, Leafs fans, there’s another show in town. But this one didn’t win Sunday, either.

The Toronto Blue Jays dropped a second straight series, falling 3-2 to the Detroit Tigers in Sunday’s finale. Toronto worked back from an early deficit but couldn’t concoct another comeback win, falling to 22-24 on the season.

Here are four takeaways from the Blue Jays’ 2-4 start to the homestand, before they begin a series with the San Diego Padres on Tuesday:

Tapping into Daulton Varsho’s offensive potential

There was always more in Daulton Varsho’s bat. He hit 27 homers in 2022 with the Arizona Diamondbacks, posting a .745 OPS that remains his full-season high. In two seasons since his trade to Toronto, Varsho hasn’t bested 20 homers or a .700 OPS. The Blue Jays hope they’ve finally found that extra pop.

Varsho altered his swing over the offseason, working with Toronto’s hitting coaches amid his recovery from rotator cuff surgery. His pre-pitch setup is new, holding the bat more upright and the knob closer to his head. Add slight tweaks to his pre-pitch charge and compression, Blue Jays hitting coach David Popkins said, and Varsho now works above and down to the ball.

Getting under the ball, especially high fastballs, has been an issue for Varsho with the Blue Jays. He posted an infield fly-ball rate of 18.3 percent over the last two seasons, fourth highest in baseball. It’s 15.8 percent so far this year, below his career average. Looking at where in the zone Varsho makes contact this year, it’s clear he’s now able to get to higher pitches.

Daulton Varsho’s batting average hexbin chart — 2024 vs. 2025 (Baseball Savant)

The adjustments have made Varsho’s swing more accurate, manager John Schneider said, and seemingly more powerful. Last year, Varsho’s average exit velocity was 86.1 mph. This year, it’s 94.1 mph, and he has the two hardest-hit balls of his career. Varsho is hitting homers on over 30 percent of his fly balls, which is unsustainable, but raw power can’t be faked.

“Guys figure out things at different times,” Schneider said. “Not comparing him to José Bautista, but I think that’s the one that jumps out. You figure kind of something out mechanically, and it just gives you a better shot every single time. So I think that Varsh is kind of still an untapped resource offensively.”

There is no expectation that Varsho has become an overnight 54-homer MVP candidate as Bautista did in 2010. But we’ve seen how one player’s adjustment can lift Toronto’s offence. With six homers in 14 games this season, Varsho is doing more than his share of lifting.

Getting Anthony Santander right

Cranky shoulder, hip soreness and a .572 OPS. Unlike Varsho, there’s not much going right for Anthony Santander right now.

After crashing into the bleachers in Anaheim and tweaking his left hip Thursday on a swing against the Tampa Bay Rays, Santander started just four of the Blue Jays’ last nine games. His absence from Friday’s lineup against the Tigers was billed as a brief reset, Schneider said, but the hip ailment kept him out of the starting lineup Saturday, too. He rejoined the lineup Sunday and was held hitless after sliding down to the fifth spot in the order.

“He’s frustrated,” Schneider said. “You know he’s trying to stay positive, but, yeah, he’s frustrated. He’s frustrated with performance, with nagging stuff. Feels like when he was getting going, he dives into the stands. Hopefully, we can just get him squared away and get back out there. But he’s frustrated.”

The myriad injuries came right after the Blue Jays thought Santander neared normalcy in Anaheim, flashing progress with his right-handed swing. Four of Santander’s five hits against the Los Angeles Angels came off left-handed pitchers, including a hit against Yusei Kikuchi that rocketed right up the middle.

Even when he’s fully locked in, Santander will pull the ball over 40 percent — that’s where the homer power is — but right now it sits at a career-high 51.3 percent. Thursday against the Rays, the $92.5 million free-agent signing crushed a deep foul to right field in the ninth, narrowly missing a tying homer at the pole. That might seem encouraging for a guy the Blue Jays hope pulls 40 homers this year, but it’s not a clear sign of comfort. When you see Santander drive hits to centre, lowering his pull rate slightly, you’ll know he’s found his timing. Once Santander shakes off the shoulder and hip injuries, the search can continue.

“He’s big into feel, rhythm,” Schneider said. “Being kind of in it every day. It probably didn’t help him having a few days off.”

Blue Jays No. 2 prospect Trey Yesavage ranks among Florida State League leaders with:

2.22 ERA (8th)
43 K (1st)
13.66 K/9 (1st)
0.81 WHIP (1st)
.153 AVG (1st) pic.twitter.com/NQwzAuTONb

— Dunedin Blue Jays (@DunedinBlueJays) May 8, 2025

Pitching prospect promotions

Three young Blue Jays pitchers made the cross-continent flight from Dunedin, Fla., to Vancouver, B.C., on Saturday as Toronto promoted Trey Yesavage, Khal Stephen and Gage Stanifer to High A. Toronto has yet to formalize the transactions, but sources confirmed Stanifer’s and Yesavage’s moves to The Athletic, and MLB.com and Sportsnet have reported Stephen’s.

The trio spent a month mowing through Single-A batters, all posting ERAs below 2.50 and WHIPs under 0.95 in Single A. Though top draft picks Stephen and Yesavage weren’t expected to stay in Dunedin long, the early production confirmed the brevity of the Florida stint. Yesavage, Toronto’s No. 2 prospect per The Athletic’s Keith Law, struck out 55 batters in 33 1/3 innings. With the rainy Vancouver spring almost over, the call-ups came.

“There were a lot of considerations on where to start them,” Blue Jays minor-league pitching director Justin Lehr said. “Some of the tough weather implicated maybe we shouldn’t move too quickly to a different location.”

Yesavage, Toronto’s 2024 first-round pick, dominated Dunedin with a particularly unique arm slot, releasing the ball from nearly right above his shoulder. Only his changeup has significant horizontal movement, with the righty largely working up and down to fool batters. It worked in college and now Single A, as Yesavage never allowed more than three earned runs in seven starts for Dunedin. Next task: the Northwest League.

Toronto’s real rivals

Toronto’s series against Detroit was part of MLB’s new rivalry weekend, but the tilt wasn’t much of a headline fight. The Tigers and Blue Jays were geographical and divisional rivals back in the 1980s, but that history doesn’t linger on the field.

“Do I need to remind you how long ago the ’80s were?” Detroit manager A.J. Hinch said.

When asked who the Blue Jays’ current top rival is, Schneider gave two teams: the Seattle Mariners and the Baltimore Orioles. The manager cited the tension of playoff battles, Canadian fan support in Seattle, and heated contests against Baltimore. The Blue Jays are 11-7 against the Mariners, plus two postseason losses, since Schneider took over as manager in 2022. They’re 20-27 against the Orioles.

“That’s just kind of how I feel about it,” Schneider said. “Because of the way we’ve played in the past couple years, playoff games and games in 2022. That’s kind of how I wake up on the days we’re playing them.”

(Photo of Daulton Varsho: Nick Turchiaro / Imagn Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

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