Blue Jays predicted to demote slumping No. 5 prospect when Daulton Varsho returns

The Toronto Blue Jays will be more than happy to welcome back Daulton Varsho.

At 13-15, the Blue Jays are looking for a spark, and Varsho may very well be able to provide it. The 28-year-old Gold Glove outfielder is set to make his season debut on Tuesday after recovering from offseason shoulder surgery.

Varsho should help the Blue Jays' outfield defense immensely, as Nathan Lukes and Myles Straw have been platooning in center to begin the season. Meanwhile, Alan Roden and Addison Barger are both on the roster at the moment as the primary left field options.

The Blue Jays may have had the highest hopes for Roden out of that entire group of Varsho stand-ins, because he was their number-five prospect heading into the season (per MLB Pipeline) and had a great spring training.

However, due to his poor performance at the plate so far, Gregor Chisholm of the Toronto Star predicted on Monday that Roden would be the one demoted to Triple-A as the corresponding roster move for Varsho coming off the injured list.

"The Jays’ performance in centre has been much better even without Varsho. Toronto centre fielders are batting .311 and their .870 OPS ranks fifth. That might be enough to convince the Jays to take the platoon of Lukes and Straw and shift it to the left," Chisholm wrote.

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"From this vantage point, the smarter play would be to bench Lukes, option Roden and make Barger the everyday starter in left against right-handed pitching. There’s no guarantee it will work, but Roden had his shot and Lukes comes with limited upside because he’s already 30 years old."

Roden, 25, is slashing .188/.266/.255 (57 OPS+) in 25 games this season. He's in the first percentile of both expected batting average and expected slugging percentage among qualified hitters, per Baseball Savant.

Maybe a trip back to Triple-A is what Roden needs to get his swing back on track. But this is still a win-now Blue Jays team despite their influx of young talent, and they can't afford to have such a slumping bat in their lineup.

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