Will Daulton Varsho Catch Again for the Diamondbacks?

In 2021 Varsho caught a lot more games, getting 37 starts and 319 total innings behind the plate. He split time that year almost evenly in the outfield, with  338 innings played on the grass in center, right and left. While his caught steal percentage improved quite a bit, (7 for 22 caught stealing), his overall numbers lagged the other catchers on the team once again. (Meanwhile his defensive numbers on the outfield corners flashed positive)

By the start of the 2022 season the team decided to promote Jose Herrera to be Carson Kelly's primary backup with Varsho  playing centerfield. He started just two games behind the plate during the first month of he season switching in at catcher in late innings in two other games. 

However an injury to Kelly on May 4th pressed Varsho back into catching duties for the next five weeks until Kelly returned. His last catching start came on June 9th. After that his he was switched in behind the plate a handful of times in late innings, the last occurrence being July 24th. Overall, once again Varsho's numbers at catcher were the weakest of the group. Even Cooper Hummel had a better catcher's ERA. 

In total over the three year period, Varsho has far and away the highest catcher's ERA of any catcher on the team to catch more than 85 innings. 

Of course during this time, Varsho emerged as an elite defensive outfielder. So much so in fact that he was a Gold Glove finalist in right field. Varsho did not allow his disappointment in being moved off catcher impact his work ethic or desire to become the best outfielder he could be. In fact just the opposite. He embraced the opportunity and worked very hard at his fielding mechanics. Coupled with great athleticism and instincts he's become a tremendous outfielder. He told us all about that transition and the work that went behind it back in September. 

Will Varsho resume catching with the Diamondbacks?

At this point it seems highly unlikely. The fact that the team decided to convert Cooper Hummel back to catcher and call him up after just a week of reps behind the plate, rather than put Varsho back at catcher was very telling. On August 29th I asked Torey Lovullo if the team had closed the door on Varsho becoming a catcher again next year:

"Fair ask. He will also play on the back end of games if we need to switch out, pinch run, something like that. So he will come in from right field. You'll see him potentially play late in the game. As far as starting a game  we decided that we're not going to do that for the time being. We're going to back out of that and have the discussion this off season about what the future plans are." 

As mentioned above his last rep at catcher came on July 24th. From the time I asked Lovullo that question, Varsho did not get to play behind the plate again. 

Many have expressed concern about whether catching would wear Varsho down and have a negative impact on one of his best tools, his speed and athleticism. Lovullo followed up his comment above with this:

"He's a tremendous athlete. He can handle a lot. But I know that he's excelling in right field , he's enjoying his time in right field. We don't want to interrupt that for right now. It'll be a discussion for us to have this off season." 

Based on all factors, including his poor track record behind the plate, the excellence of his defense in the outfield, and concerns about wear and tear, it seems highly probable that Varsho's days at catcher, at least with the Diamondbacks, are finished. Even a late inning replacement on a semi regular basis might not be part of the planned usage pattern in the future, based on what the team did over the final 10 weeks of the season. Daulton Varsho now seems relegated to being the emergency catcher on this roster.