TORONTO -- Daulton Varsho needed a day off, but thankfully, the Blue Jays have already cloned him.
Myles Straw has been a defensive sensation for this team in 2025, one of the few outfielders putting together a highlight reel that can rival Varsho’s, but he’d been missing one thing. Saturday afternoon, he got it.
Straw robbed a home run from Jackson Chourio in the first inning at Rogers Centre, a perfectly timed jump at the wall in center field to pick the ball off the very top edge. What a rude welcome back for Chourio, the Brewers’ young star who was just activated earlier in the day after a month on the IL with a right hamstring injury.
"I've never had a homer robbed from me before,” Chourio said in Spanish after the Brewers beat the Blue Jays, 4-1. “So, I don't know, it was weird. Because I said, 'Man, they just took that hit away from me.' But honestly, I felt good, because I knew I'd seen the ball well and I'd made good contact."
This is something Straw has joked about in the past with Varsho. It was a first for him, too.
The two are excellent defenders, Varsho coming off a Gold Glove Award in center and Straw a 2022 winner with the Guardians, but Varsho just kept climbing the wall to bring balls back. The duo talks defense like great hitters would break down an opposing pitcher, but earlier this season, Straw said there was still one thing he needed to catch up on.
“I’ve never robbed a home run, so I can’t talk to him about that yet,” Straw said back in May.
Finally, he’s got one. Much like Varsho, Straw gets all of this done with speed, confidence and perfect timing. You won’t confuse either of these two with 7-foot-4 NBA star Victor Wembanyama, but with a well-timed leap and a cleat dug into the wall at the right time, their listed heights don’t matter much.
“It’s crazy that we have such a luxury,” said starter Kevin Gausman. “We can take Varsho out and put in a guy like Myles, and you don’t really miss too much. That’s pretty hard to say. I don’t think too many teams can say that. That was a huge play. I felt like the momentum definitely got everybody fired up, me included.”
Straw did everything he could on both sides of the ball to change the Blue Jays’ fate Saturday, even going 3-for-3 at the plate with a double.
“That’s a momentum changer,” manager John Schneider said. “It’s the second hitter of the game, and he takes a home run away. I think that allowed Kevin to get into a pretty good rhythm, a pretty good groove. Myles, he can do that. Overall today, a really, really good game for him.”
Straw has been a pleasant surprise in a season full of them for the Blue Jays. Originally brought over from the Guardians in a January deal primarily meant to free international pool space for Toronto's pursuit of Roki Sasaki, Straw wasn’t even on the 40-man roster in Spring Training and often found himself stuck in batting practice groups with Minor Leaguers. He just keeps surviving, though, and with Varsho needing at least a couple of days off after taking a 97 mph fastball to his right hand Friday night, Straw has yet another opening.
Among all qualified outfielders in Major League Baseball this season (140), Straw is tied for sixth with a +9 Fielding Run Value. We all just watched another reason why.