Not that i fully disagree with you but let's put aside the debate about whatever Varsho is an average hitter or not the question to your question will be no either way. A lineup made of 9 average hitters wont go far you need at least around 3 hitters who are significantly better than the average and ideally 1 or 2 you can be good contact hitter who get on base and can steal bases.
Personally i would call Varsho average. He's obviously not an average contact hitter in that regard he's clearly below average but he got some power which make him globally average as a hitter. He's a 7th, 8th or 9th batter in my book though. Too easy to strike out and not enough power to be in the middle of the lineup.
Strictly as a hitter Gurriel is better than him though.
It's more subjective than objective if you ask me. The current lineup will miss again.
Good post.
Unfortunately for Jays fans, our good hitters is a 50/50 bet if they actually are good hitters next year. We got "Leap Year" at 1B/3B who seems to only show up once every four years, maybe he repeats his performance from this year into next season, maybe not. Suddenly an unknown commodity in Bichette, was last year due to injury or just a case of the Yips at the plate, an aging leadoff guy in Springer, does he bounce back next year? A load of AAAA players, Schneider, Loperfido, Barger, Clement, Horwitz that may or may not become legit hitters. Clement and Horwitz stick out to me at the plate, I think they will eventually have good MLB bats (better than Varsho). Top to bottom of the line up I dont see one player that we know will guaranteed show up next year and drive play at the plate... which is why I go back to my OP, Soto would be amazing but if we get Soto, it pretty much means there will be very little left to address other areas... I'd rather put the money into improving 5 to 10 positions vs drastically improving only one position. There could be an argument made that Soto makes everyone else in the line up better because the people before him will likely see pitchers being more direct with them to avoid pitching to Soto with people on, the people behind him would benefit from Soto and other players being on base more. I think there is an honest argument that can be made that Soto's impact would be bigger than just his singular contributions
When I see Varsho and the types of power swings he takes, I think he is doing a disservice to himself. With his speed he should try to develop a swing that induces line drive contact not loft. He could easily be one of the best lead off guys with just a little more focus on line drive contact and less on trying to launch the ball into outer space.
Shatkins should not be in charge this off season. They need to go. They have proven they do not have what it takes to build us into a contender. There are worse tandems, but it’s time for a change.
17 days to the 9 year anniversary of the plug being hired as our GM. We must either have an elite MLB team or a super deep farm system after 9 years right?