Every hitter is a lefty. I’m guessing at this. If you have information disputing that every hitter is a lefty, I don’t want to hear it. I’m going off my fantasy baseball sleepers and every gee-dee guy I get excited about is a lefty. I got five hours into loving me some Will Benson, then saw his splits and was like, “Welp, there goes the best five hours of my life resulting in nothing! Also, I have to become a better judge of hours of my life if those were the best. Or was I just being sarcastic with myself? Why can’t I tell when I’m being sarcastic to myself? This shouldn’t be that hard! Wait, am I being sarcastic right now? Damn it!” So, I don’t love the lefty-lefty thing, either. I know that it means a guy is going to be benched for at least 90-120 ABs or just face lefties and have terrible numbers vs. them. Enter Daulton Varsho. His dad, Gary Varsho, named him after Darren Daulton, his former. Every player should do this, “This is my 19th son, Jesus Luzardo Harper. My 18th son, Schwarber Harper…My 17th son, J.T. Harper…My 16th son, Trea Harper…My 15th son, Harper Harper…” etc. Or however many kids Bryce Harper has, I don’t know, I just know it’s a lot. Okay, ready for the good news? Varsho is excellent in the field, and hit better vs. lefties in 2025, so he’s not a giving-shizz Splitsville guy. We are cooking with gas now! So, what can we expect from Daulton Varsho for 2026 fantasy baseball and what makes him a sleeper?
PSYCHE! I’m currently rolling out my 2026 fantasy baseball rankings on the Patreon. Don’t wait for the rankings to come out next month. Anyway II, the Daulton Varsho sleeper:
Daulton Varsho did hit .217 vs. righties in his career and .232 last year, so are these reverse splits? “Ugh, don’t lead with bad news, Grey, are you dumb?” No, Inner Monologue, I am not. IM, “Could’ve fooled me.” Last year was Daulton Varsho’s sixth year in the majors, and he’s only 29. Sometimes it takes longer for the good stuff to maturate — [googling definition of maturate] to form pus? Eek! People have a problem with the word moist, but has anyone heard the word pus? — So, maturate doesn’t mean what I thought it did. Mature, that’s what Varsho’s done. Last year, he went 20/2/.238 in only 248 ABs. Give him 570 ABs and let him fly, right?
A few things I’d like you to see:
That’s from his debut in 2020 to 2025. Here’s one more:
First snapshot of his barrels shows he’s barreling up more pitches — hitting the ball harder, in general — and the 2nd is him swinging more, i.e., being more aggressive. His Z-Swing% (times he swung at balls in zone) went from 67.1% to 75.1% from ’24 to ’25. That’s significant. That feels like someone getting a better feel for the strike zone and doing work. Look at this:
That’s first-pitch strike percentage. Finally, he went from a .198 hitter on offspeed pitches in 2023 — vomit — to .228 in 2024 — vomit — to a .318 hitter in 2025 — no vomit. He became a better hitter this year. This is all focused on his average, because he was a .210 hitter and last year it was .238. He needs to be a .235+ hitter to get the kind of value we want, so I’m showing you he can be there. Will he hit 40 homers after hitting 20 in a half year? Prolly not, but he has no splits and will play, due to his great defense. Will he steal 20 bags after stealing 16 bags two years in a row, but not stealing last year? Maybe not, but he’ll have chances. Will he hit .235+, yes. Power, speed and a better average? I want. For 2026 fantasy baseball, I’ll give Daulton Varsho projections of 79/29/71/.241/12 in 546 ABs with a chance for more.
