Daulton Varsho is known to rob opposing players of hits with his stellar play in the outfield, but it was the Gold Glover who fell victim to a bit of locker-room theft.
It wasn’t a valuable possession that went missing this past spring, however. It was his jersey number.
During an appearance on Wednesday’s episode of the 6ix Inning Stretch podcast, Varsho shared the story between his impromptu number switch from No. 25 – which he wore for his first two years in Toronto – to No. 5 this season and how it all went down.
Varsho told co-hosts Lindsay Dunn and Whit Merrifield – a former Blue Jays all-star – that Anthony Santander surprised him with the news on the day of the slugger’s introductory press conference, after having assured him the day before that every was cool.
“He came up to me and was like, ‘Hey, like I’m not going to take 25, I’m going to take this number,’” Varsho said, adding that he told Santander, “If you want it, like you can take it, but obviously we’ll figure out something for it.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0sG4f61VOc
However, it turned out that Santander was pretty quick to change his mind.
“The next day, he had his press conference, he’s like, ‘Hey, I’m taking your number.’ I was like, ‘Oh … OK,’” Varsho explained. “The clubhouse manager, he’s like, ‘Hey, we need to figure out what your number is, Tony’s going to take 25.’”
Caught off guard by the situation, Varsho told him, “OK, like I guess I’ll take No. 5.”
Varsho did share that Santander has been asking him since then what the outfielder would like in return for the number.
“He got me something the week before I got back (from injury). He was down in Florida, and he said he got me something,” Varsho said. “I don’t know what it is yet, but we’ll see.”
Merrifield then joked about what he would have given the native of Marshfield, Wisc., in return for the digits.
“If that was me, I’d have got you either a big wheel of cheese or I’d have bought you, because the (Green Bay) Packers are a publicly traded company … you’d have been a part-owner of the Packers.
“Give me Tony’s number. I’ll tell him to buy you some shares of the Packers.”
While many players are very superstitious about their jersey numbers, the switch seems to be working out well for Varsho.
Since his return from the IL on Aug. 1, Varsho boasts a batting average of .357 and has hit four HRs and has 11 RBIs.
For the season, he has 12 HRs in just 33 games – which is six HRs short of the 18 he hit last year while playing in 136 games.