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“Last year, I tried to do too much,” Varsho told the Star in an interview prior to this weekend’s series against the Diamondbacks, his first games in Arizona since the trade.

Varsho’s first season with the Jays was decidedly not a resounding success. The 27-year-old outfielder found little momentum and finished with an OPS below .700. The experience was only made harder by the groaning of fans and pundits who watched the Jays take a step backward while Arizona made a surprise run to the World Series with Moreno and Gurriel as key pieces.

Year 2 has been better, at least for Varsho, as fans learn to appreciate his glove with an occasional glimpse of power at the plate. The Wisconsin native is finally comfortable in his own skin. His mettle manifests itself in the way he governs the outfield (either from left or centre) and the authority with which he crushes home runs (almost always to the same spot: halfway up the right-field bleachers). 

Through 91 games, Varsho leads the Jays in Baseball Reference’s wins above replacement metric (bWAR) at 2.9 and ranks second on the club with 11 homers, despite an unsightly .196 batting average and a .670 OPS below the current league average of .708.

And while Varsho’s cage-rat attitude ramps him up, his teammates slow him down, and that subtle relaxation has been the difference in 2024. Matt Chapman helped Varsho chill out last year, as did Whit Merrifield. But Springer, seven years Varsho’s senior, has been by far the biggest influence.

“He’s like my older brother, my dad,” Varsho said. “(Springer) is the kind of person that I’m able to depend on every day because he’s always going to have something for me.”

Springer and Varsho do almost everything together. They’re locker neighbours and sit next to each other on team flights. With Springer at six-foot-three and Varsho listed at five-foot-eight, they’re like a buddy-cop duo, with Springer the grizzled vet and Varsho as his cheeky sidekick.

On road trips, they love killing time by playing video games, specifically Call of Duty: Warzone. Varsho is so talented with the sniper class that teammate Chris Bassitt nicknamed him Chris Kyle — after the U.S. Navy SEAL depicted in film “American Sniper” — for his virtual marksmanship.

As a clubhouse clown, Springer does his best to get Varsho to crack a smile. Whether that’s screaming Varsho’s name across a quiet Sunday clubhouse or physically horsing around, the 34-year-old Springer always finds a moment to lighten the mood.

“I kind of like to poke and pry at (Varsho) a little bit, get his personality to come out,” Springer said with a massive smile. “He’s an awesome dude.”

Last August, on a rare Jays off-day, Springer and his family rented a cottage on Lake Simcoe and extended the invitation to Varsho. So Springer, his wife Charlise and their two kids mingled with Varsho and his wife Brook for a day of fun. They fired up the barbecue during the day and huddled around a bonfire at night.

The lakeside getaway during the dog days of summer cemented Springer and Varsho’s friendship. For Varsho, it was a moment to refresh, an opportunity to further acclimate himself to his new role in pc28����after parts of three big-league seasons in Arizona.

“For him as a younger player being acquired in a trade, you want to show everybody what you can do and why they traded for you,”  Springer said about the challenge of joining a new team. “Daulton doesn’t need to do anything more than what he’s been doing.”

Varsho doesn’t anticipate much pomp upon his return to Phoenix on Friday; he’ll reconnect with former teammates such as  first baseman Christian Walker and pitcher Zac Gallen, whom Varsho caught six times during the regular season before converting to the outfield.

Most important, Varsho will stroll through the doors at Chase Field with a new-found quiet confidence and an understanding of the game he didn’t have access to during his D-Backs years. Nowadays, when Varsho endures a cold streak at the plate (.519 OPS so far in July), he reminds himself of his other talents: speed and defence.

“That was a really good message that (teammates) always preach to me,” he said.

Defence is his anchor. You can poll any player in the Jays clubhouse and they’ll tell you Varsho is baseball’s best defensive outfielder. The data backs up that notion. Varsho leads all major-league outfielders with 49 defensive runs saved  since the start of 2023, nearly doubling teammate Kevin Kiermaier’s 25 in second place. 

And that’s a quiet key to the trade involving Gurriel and Moreno. Not only does Varsho lead the American League with 2.0 defensive wins above replacement, his 6.8 bWAR since the start of 2023 also outpaces Gurriel (3.9) and Moreno (5.8) during that span.

“(Varsho) is the best outfielder I’ve ever played next to,” said Kiermaier, whose four Gold Gloves make him an expert on the subject.

Varsho doesn’t have a freakish physique or a cannon arm, but his attentiveness, foot speed and willingness to sacrifice his body for a big play set him apart, Kiermaier said.

“That’s why these numbers are where they are,” said Kiermaier, who was put on waivers by the Jays on Thursday. “That’s why (Varsho) makes plays, because he’s in the game each and every pitch ... He reminds me of a younger me.”

Seemingly destined for his first Gold Glove in 2024, Varsho is no longer grinding out success in silence. This year, he sought some revenge after missing multiple home-run-saving catches a season ago, including a ball that doinked off his glove and over the fence in Minnesota. The spectacular catch at the wall eluded him until May 13, when he hurled himself toward the home bullpen at Camden Yards to rob Orioles slugger Ryan O’Hearn of a solo homer.

Varsho has taken massive strides this year, immunizing himself against the highs and lows of major-league hitting and finding a cozy middle, where he can operate stress-free even as he works at improving that batting average. And if you ask his teammates, they see a bright future ahead for their beloved outfielder.

“He’s gonna play for a long time,” Kiermaier said of his outfield companion. “And he’s gonna hit a lot of homers, create havoc on the bases and play elite defence for years to come. I can almost guarantee that.”