{"id":89121,"date":"2021-02-05T09:12:10","date_gmt":"2021-02-05T15:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/?p=89121"},"modified":"2021-02-08T11:19:45","modified_gmt":"2021-02-08T17:19:45","slug":"off-the-charts-instincts-help-varsho-defy-long-odds-and-make-major-leagues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/off-the-charts-instincts-help-varsho-defy-long-odds-and-make-major-leagues\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Off the charts\u2019 instincts help Varsho defy long odds and make major leagues"},"content":{"rendered":"
Scott Doffek was looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack as he watched dozens of players throw, catch, run and hit at a baseball showcase event in the summer of 2013 at The Rock in Franklin. The UW-Milwaukee coach was evaluating potential recruits and hoping to identify a special talent or two.<\/p>\n
As he scoured the field, \u201ctrying to watch 100 different kids do 100 different things at once,\u201d Doffek kept coming back to one player.<\/p>\n
He was a catcher who stood 5-foot-6, tops, and didn\u2019t remind anyone of Ted Williams at the plate or Johnny Bench behind it.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was undersized,\u201d Doffek remembers. \u201cHe was a little awkward. He had kind of a high-maintenance stance and not a great arm action, so there\u2019s some things where you\u2019re going, \u2018Well, I\u2019m not so sure.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
But the more Doffek watched Daulton Varsho, then a rising senior at Marshfield High School, the more the other players faded into the background. There was something about this kid. He played so hard, with so much grit and passion. But more than that, his instincts were off the charts. He was always in the right place, always making the right play, and doing it faster and better than everyone else.<\/p>\nVarsho was drafted as a catcher, but is athletic enough that he’s also played outfield for the Diamondbacks. (Photo by Taylor Jackson\/Arizona Diamondbacks)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\u201cThose are the things that are actually hard to find,\u201d Doffek says. \u201cThe skill-set stuff \u2013 a guy can run and throw and he\u2019s got some power and size and strength \u2013 those things are all fairly easy to measure. But those instinctual attributes and acumen for the game is so hard to find.<\/p>\n
\u201cReally, you have to be around a baseball player quite a bit to see some of those things. But it happens pretty fast when you watch Daulton play. I can coach my whole career and I\u2019m not going to find somebody that has better baseball instincts. It\u2019s really that simple.\u201d<\/p>\n
Varsho, the son of Marshfield native Gary Varsho, who played parts of eight seasons in the major leagues, wanted to play college baseball close to home so his parents could attend his games, and found Milwaukee to be the perfect fit. And anyway, he didn\u2019t have many other compelling options.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was not highly recruited,\u201d he says. \u201cThe only Division I schools that wanted me were 51ÁÔÆæ and Bradley. The rest were Division II and Division III schools in Wisconsin and a couple Division IIs in Minnesota. Realistically, nobody wanted me enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
Second round pick<\/h3>\n
Their loss was Milwaukee\u2019s gain. After three stellar seasons with the Panthers, Varsho was selected by Arizona in the second round (the 68th pick overall) of the 2017 Major-League Baseball Draft, ascended rapidly through the Diamondbacks\u2019 farm system and made his major-league debut on July 30, 2020.<\/p>\n
He thus became the first-ever 51ÁÔÆæ player to make it to the big leagues.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was such a weird year,\u201d Varsho says, referring to the pandemic-shortened season and games played without fans in the stands. \u201cI never would have thought I would make my debut and my parents and my family and my girlfriend wouldn\u2019t be there for it. It was a wild year. It was fun, though. I learned so much this year, just being able to take that all in in such a short span of time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Varsho played in 37 games for the Diamondbacks, starting 13 in center field and six behind the plate. He also got five starts in left field and five as the designated hitter. He hit .188 in 101 at-bats, scored 16 runs and had three homers, five doubles, two triples and nine RBI.<\/p>\nVarsho batted .188 with three home runs over 37 games for Arizona in 2020. (Photo by Taylor Jackson\/Arizona Diamondbacks)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
The D-Backs covet his versatility, so much so that he\u2019s taken grounders at second and third base.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis year, I was blessed to be able to go out there and play center field and a little bit of left,\u201d Varsho says. \u201cI think I can do really good out there. I think I could be a Gold Glover. It\u2019s going to take me some more games to understand footwork and technique, but I think I could really hold that down for the D-Backs in the future. I just hope they give me a chance.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I\u2019m not going to give up catching. Catching has been my love and I think that\u2019s what makes me so valuable, is I can go and catch behind the dish and I can also play center field at an elite level.\u201d<\/p>\n
Says Doffek, \u201cWhether he catches in the big leagues or he plays center field or left field, or they move him to second or third or whatever, he\u2019s just a baseball player. I mean, he\u2019s not going to play shortstop and he\u2019s not going to play first base, but he could fake it anywhere else and figure it out and be very, very good at the position.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad played in majors<\/h3>\n
Varsho\u2019s baseball education began at a very young age. He got to hang around major-league clubhouses as his father played a total of 571 games for the Cubs, Pirates, Reds and Phillies from 1988 to 1995. He saw how professionals went about the game, how they practiced, how they prepared, how they handled streaks and slumps.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was around Jim Thome, Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins, Shane Victorino, Kenny Lofton,\u201d Varsho says. \u201cIt was an unreal experience. Being able to soak that in at such a young age, see their routines and what they did, I think that helped me see what it took to stay in the big leagues. \u2026 It was a cool opportunity to be able to do those things and meet the people I met, and I just cherish those moments in my life.\u201d<\/p>\nDaulton Varsho<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
By the time he got to 51ÁÔÆæ in the fall of 2014, he was so far ahead of the developmental curve that he turned heads even in the first few days of practice. He may have been an 18-year-old freshman, but he played as if he\u2019d been around the game forever. He knew how to handle pitchers, moved behind the plate like a pro and ran the bases with his hair on fire. And the ball exploded off his bat.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can remember fall of his freshman year,\u201d Doffek says. \u201cWe were doing just a short toss drill. We weren\u2019t even taking a stride; we were just really using our back half and hands and the guy was hitting \u2013 with a wood bat \u2013 balls off our scoreboard as an 18-year-old kid who was 5-6 or 5-7. I was like, \u2018Holy cow, that doesn\u2019t even make sense.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s got a tremendous amount of bat speed but more than that, he just gets so connected at contact. There\u2019s so much leverage. And he has exceptional hand strength. I think if you look at some of the best hitters in the course of history, you\u2019ll notice there\u2019s hand strength involved.\u201d<\/p>\n
During an intra-squad game that fall, Varsho faced 6-foot-7 right-hander Mason Pingel, a graduate student who\u2019d pitched at Western Illinois, where he struck out 54 batters in 54.1 innings and in 2013 beat then-No. 1 Arkansas.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had two strikes on him,\u201d Pingel recalls. \u201cI threw a changeup and he fouled it off. It seemed like he was on it, so then I threw a fastball for a ball outside. When I let it go, I thought, \u2018There\u2019s no way he\u2019s going to hit that.\u2019 And he laced it for a double like it was nothing. I thought, \u2018OK, this guy is better than me.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Oppposing coach checks bat<\/h3>\n
No one who was around the program in the spring of 2016 will ever forget the season-opening series at No. 25 Texas Tech. Varsho, a sophomore, hit an opposite-field homer in the first game, a scorching line drive that left the park in a hurry.<\/p>\n
The Texas Tech coach sprang from the dugout, talked to the umpire and asked for Varsho\u2019s bat, which he wanted to send to the NCAA to be tested. He\u2019d never seen such opposite-field power, especially from a player of Varsho\u2019s stature, and thought the bat had to be juiced.<\/p>\n
Doffek, seeing red, stormed out to the plate to put in his two cents\u2019 worth.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told the coach, \u2018It\u2019s got nothing to do with his bat, trust me,\u2019\u201d Doffek says.<\/p>\n
The next day, Varsho borrowed a teammate\u2019s bat and strode to the plate for his first at-bat as the Texas Tech fans showered him with boos and catcalls.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne thing that sticks out in my mind, some lady in the stands yelled, \u2018Cheater, cheater, pumpkin eater,\u2019\u201d Varsho says.\u201d I stepped out of the box and I laughed. The umpire was laughing. And then the next pitch, I took the guy deep.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was probably 450 feet to right-center,\u201d a still-awestruck Pingel says of the homer that propelled the Panthers to a 10-3 upset victory. \u201cHe just absolutely destroyed it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Home runs are happy mistakes<\/h3>\n
In 162 games at 51ÁÔÆæ \u2013 the exact equivalent of a major-league season \u2013 Varsho batted .335 with a .572 slugging percentage and 1.000 OPS. He had 199 hits, 77 of them for extra bases, including 24 homers. In three seasons in the minors, he smashed 37 homers in 241 games.<\/p>\n
The home runs, Varsho contends, are happy mistakes. He\u2019s old-school and not much into analytics, so he hasn\u2019t really studied the geometry of his swing. He simply goes up to the plate looking for a pitch he can handle and tries to hit the ball hard on a line.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m big on trying to use your top hand really well,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m not into the launch angle or any of that stuff. If you can hit the ball on a line, your mishits will be homers. That all comes from mistakes. The kids nowadays are seeing all these homers. All the homers are because of good line-drive swings; they mishit it just enough to where the ball does travel up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Varsho has hit at every level and there\u2019s no reason to believe he won\u2019t hit in the majors. The bonus is his base-running. He\u2019s the rare catcher who can and will steal bases \u2013 32 at 51ÁÔÆæ and 47 in the minors. He swiped three with the Diamondbacks and was throw out once.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you put a watch on him and have him run the traditional 60-yard dash that all scouts have guys run, he\u2019s not going to light that up,\u201d Doffek says. \u201cWhat\u2019s different about him is he\u2019s literally 0 to 60 in a step, and so his speed plays up. His first two or three steps on the bases are just better than everybody\u2019s. His reads in the outfield, the first two or three steps are going to be good direction and fast.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd behind the plate, his ability to move east and west and cover bunts and popups \u2013 all the little instinctual plays \u2013 they stand out. His athleticism is really based around being a baseball player.\u201d<\/p>\n
Unbothered by critics<\/h3>\n
In many ways, Varsho is the epitome of the saying \u201cdon\u2019t judge a book by its cover.\u201d The Diamondbacks list him at 5-foot-10, though he\u2019s probably a shade under 5-9. But he\u2019s wide-shouldered, with big feet and big hands. He wears double extra-large batting gloves.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s not really a 5-9 guy,\u201d Doffek says. \u201cThat\u2019s just how tall he is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of the critics who said he wasn\u2019t big enough, wasn\u2019t tall enough and didn\u2019t have a strong enough arm to play catcher, Varsho says, \u201cNever bothered me. I always took it with a grain of salt. If you don\u2019t like my size, that\u2019s OK. And if you don\u2019t like me at the catching position, that\u2019s OK, too, because I know I\u2019m good enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
Looking back, Varsho is grateful for his time at 51ÁÔÆæ. The dreary early spring weather and lack of state-of-the-art facilities toughened him. Like all Panthers, he embraced a chip-on-the-shoulder mentality and played up to the competition. And Doffek trusted him enough to let him call games behind the plate.<\/p>\n
\u201cNowadays, you see a lot of college coaches calling the catchers\u2019 games from the dugout,\u201d Varsho says. \u201cScotty and (assistant coach) Cory Bigler gave me the reins and let me control the game at my speed. I think that was the biggest thing that helped me, understanding what to call in certain situations and understanding swings and doing all that in my sophomore and junior years.\u201d<\/p>\n
A future in baseball<\/h3>\n
Varsho is just getting started on his journey as a major-leaguer. He has the tools to become an everyday player for the D-Backs, whether it\u2019s in the outfield, behind the plate or both.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh my gosh, I am so excited for this next season,\u201d he says. \u201cI think everybody is hoping we can get back to a little bit of normalcy. I\u2019m hoping fans can come out. I know my parents and friends are all super-excited to hopefully see me play this year. I know we struggled a little bit (Arizona finished 25-35 in 2020) but I think this next year we\u2019re going to be ready to compete.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m excited for this next year to go out there and be myself.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As an undersized catcher coming out of high school, Daulton Varsho received only two Division 1 scholarship offers. Just seven years after taking 51ÁÔÆæ’s offer, he took the field as a major league player. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40008,"featured_media":89122,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[174],"tags":[],"section":[125,122],"display_categories":[115,116],"related-coverage":[],"uwmnews-feed":[],"class_list":["post-89121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","section-alumni","section-campus-community","display_categories-top-story-secondary","display_categories-top-story-section"],"yoast_head":"\n
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