MILWAUKEE – Former Milwaukee baseball player Daulton Varsho has been named the 2019 Minor League Player Of The Year for the Arizona Diamondbacks by Baseball America, announced earlier this week.
 
Varsho, the starting catcher for the Jackson Generals (Double-A) in the Southern League, is now ranked by MLB Pipeline as the Diamondbacks No. 5 prospect. He became the highest-drafted player in program history when Arizona took him with pick No. 68 in the 2017 MLB Draft.
 
Through 106 games this season, he leads the Southern league in slugging (.512) and OPS (.885). He has been spectacular in the second half, batting at a .353 clip with a 1.026 OPS since the break. He is currently batting .296 with 17 home runs, 56 runs batted in and 21 stolen bases overall.

Baseball America noted that "no player in the system this year has a better combination of in-season production, positional value and prospect standing—at least not in the upper minors—like Varsho."
 
It was also noted that he is the first catcher in Double-A or Triple-A to steal 20 bases in a season since at least 2006. Varsho also has 42 walks and just 63 strikeouts.
 
Varsho played for the Panthers starting in 2015, capping his MKE career with Second-Team D1Baseball All-American honors. He had an impressive junior campaign, leading the Horizon League in batting average (.362), slugging percentage (.643), on-base percentage (.490), triples (6) and walks (46), while also finishing fourth in total bases (128), fifth in hits (72), sixth with a team-high 11 home runs and seventh in runs scored (47).

He is batting .298 in his minor league career, adding 36 home runs and 140 RBI in 239 games.