Every hitter is a lefty. I’m betting on this. If you have information that disputes that every hitter is left-handed, I don’t want to hear it. I’m abandoning my fantasy baseball sleepers and every guy I get excited about is a lefty. I was given five hours to love me, kind of like Will Benson, then saw his breaks and thought, “Welp, there goes the best five hours of my life, resulting in nothing! Also, I need to get a better assessment of the hours of my life if they were the best. Or was I just being sarcastic with myself? Why can’t I tell when I’m being sarcastic with myself? This shouldn’t be so hard! Wait, am I being sarcastic now? Damn!” So I don’t like the left-left stuff either. I know it means someone will be benched for at least 90-120 ABs, or they’ll just have to deal with lefties and have terrible numbers against them. Enter Daulton Varsho. His father, 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, JT Harper…My 16th son, Trea Harper…My 15th son, Harper Harper…” etc. Or however many children 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 against lefties in 2025, so he’s not a Splitsville guy who gives a lot. We now cook on gas! 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 appear next month. Anyway II, the Daulton Varsho sleeper:
Daulton Varsho hit .217 vs. right-handers in his career and .232 last year, so are these reverse splits? “Ugh, don’t start with bad news, Grey, are you stupid?” No, inner monologue, that’s not me. IM: “Could have fooled me.” Last year was Daulton Varsho’s sixth year in the majors, and he’s only 29. Sometimes good things take longer to mature – [googling definition of maturate] form pus? Eek! People have a problem with the word moist, but has anyone heard the word pus? — So mature doesn’t mean what I thought it meant. Grown up, that’s what Varsho did. Last year he went 20/2/.238 in just 248 ABs. Give him 570 ABs and let him fly, right?
A few things I’d like you to see:
That’s from its debut in 2020 to 2025. Here’s another one:
The first snapshot of his walking shows that he is making more pitches (generally hitting the ball harder) and the second shows that he is swinging more, i.e. he is 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 important. That feels like someone getting a better feel for the strike zone and doing work. Take a look at this:
That’s the strikeout rate on the first pitch. 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. This year he became a better hitter. This is all focused on his average, as he was a .210 hitter and last year it was .238. He needs to be a .235+ hitter to get the value we want, so I’m showing you he can be there. Will he hit 40 home runs after hitting 20 in six months? Not Prolly, but he has no splits and will play because of his great defense. Will he steal 20 bags after stealing 16 bags two years in a row but not last year? Maybe not, but he does have a chance. Will he hit .235+, yes. Power, speed and a better average? I do. For 2026 fantasy baseball, I’m giving Daulton Varsho projections of 79/29/71/.241/12 in 546 ABs with a chance of more.
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