Daulton Varsho managed to produce the greatest (or at the very least, the most unusual) catch of all-time on Tuesday night.
During his team’s game against the Boston Red Sox at Rogers Centre in Toronto, the Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Varsho pulled off a ludicrous, gravity-defying catch in center field. While pursuing a fourth-inning ball that was hit to dead center by Red Sox outfielder Jarren Duran, Varsho lost his footing on the warning track. He then did a 180 somersault, somehow relocated the baseball within a split second, and made the backhanded catch from a very awkward crouching position.
Take a look at the amazing video (with Varsho finishing things off by passing the baseball behind his back for good measure).
That catch might not have had the historical significance of a Willie Mays or the high-flying acrobatics of a Ken Griffey Jr. But in terms of sheer degree of difficulty (not to mention recovery and reaction time), that had to be one of the very best grabs in MLB history.
Varsho, 28, has always been known as a plus defender and won a Gold Glove Award in center field for the Blue Jays last season. But what is even more impressive is that the outfield is not even his natural position. Varsho began his career as a catcher before starting to play in the outfield too in 2019 as a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks organization.
The Red Sox won the game 10-2, though, in the meanwhile. However, Varsho, who was previously mostly recognized by supporters for another reason, has made sure that nobody would recall the score while reflecting on that match.