Daulton Varsho News: Big jump in exit velocity

Varsho's average exit velocity has increased from 86.1 mph in 2024 to 94.1 mph this season heading into Sunday's game thanks to tweaks he made to his swing mechanics this offseason, Mitch Bannon of the Athletic reports.

That's an absolutely stunning increase in how hard Varsho is hitting the ball. The center fielder was in the seventh percentile in AEV last year; this year he'd be in 95th percentile if he had enough plate appearances to qualify for the Statcast leaderboard. The added force has led to six homers and a .404 ISO through his first 14 games, and while that pace is unsustainable, Varsho seems poised to take a run at the career-high 27 home runs he slugged in 2022 despite the fact that he missed the first month of the current season while recovering from shoulder surgery.