Daulton Varsho made his season debut for the Blue Jays on Tuesday night, and he brought the fireworks with him.
Varsho, sidelined until now with a shoulder injury from last August, turned what looked like a defensive disaster into pure magic in the fourth inning against the Red Sox.
After stumbling and losing track of Jarren Duran’s deep fly ball to center field, Varsho pulled off what might be the most improbable catch of 2025 — and possibly one of the most remarkable grabs in baseball history.
When he reached the warning track, Varsho fell flat on his back, rolled, quickly popped up to his right knee, and made a desperate last-second stab at the ball. Somehow, he caught it. The Rogers Centre crowd couldn’t believe what they’d just witnessed.
DAULTON VARSHO…
WHERE THE EXTRAORDINARY HAPPENS pic.twitter.com/WlJgQ9gnI4
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) April 30, 2025
Here’s a closer look at the play that has baseball fans buzzing:
Would be crazy if Daulton Varsho won a Gold Glove.
Would be crazier if we gave away a Bobblehead celebrating the aforementioned Gold Glove on May 14.
Ah well, just thinking out loud.
https://t.co/IFDtOYzcYE pic.twitter.com/SKPAIyLZwh
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) April 30, 2025
The baseball world immediately erupted with reactions to Varsho’s tumbling grab:
usually when you see a highlight with a million OMG LOOK AT THIS CATCH captions you can start to envision what is going to happen as the play is unfolding but nope, not with this one!
good to have you back, Daulton Varshopic.twitter.com/tn1Dp6N0E9
— Céspedes Family BBQ (@CespedesBBQ) April 30, 2025
Daulton Varsho What in the dude perfect is this catch lmaoooo https://t.co/RgaHpd1cb3 pic.twitter.com/P5zIOqAZ9H
— Zachary Miller (@zmilly223) April 30, 2025
I’ve never seen anything like the catch Daulton Varsho just made.
He fell at the CF wall, rolled over, and made a backhand catch to rob Jarren Duran of a big hit.
— Gabrielle Starr (@gfstarr1) April 30, 2025
HOW— pic.twitter.com/ianiIVKdWe
— MLB (@MLB) April 30, 2025
Varsho’s Defensive Highlight Reel
Tuesday’s circus catch is just the latest entry in Varsho’s growing collection of defensive gems. Throughout his six-year MLB career, he’s made a habit of turning potential extra-base hits into outs.
Early last season, he showed off his vertical leap with this wall-climbing grab against San Diego:
According to MLB, this play made by Daulton Varsho had a 5% catch probability#TOTHECORE pic.twitter.com/1eVO48iYw9
— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) April 20, 2024
In July 2024, he went full-throttle into the left field wall in Seattle, somehow holding onto the ball after a violent collision:
Only ONE player in baseball makes this catch.
DAULTON. VARSHO. pic.twitter.com/84K0DseH6A
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) July 6, 2024
Later in the season, he robbed Orioles star Gunnar Henderson with another wall-crashing grab:
Daulton Varsho making a fantastic catch at the wall in CF
Or as Blue Jays fans call it, Tuesday pic.twitter.com/RNG8Im9kvC
— Thomas Nestico (@TJStats) December 21, 2024
Even Shohei Ohtani couldn’t escape Varsho’s defensive wizardry last year:
Another day, another big play catch from Daulton Varsho pic.twitter.com/zEFHQlWVz8
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) April 28, 2024
All these highlight-reel plays haven’t gone unrecognized. Varsho earned a 2024 AL Gold Glove award with the Blue Jays, joining Boston’s Wilyer Abreu and Cleveland’s Steven Kwan as the American League’s elite defensive outfielders.
Based on Tuesday’s season debut, he’s already making his case for another one in 2025.
