Varsho vaults into Players of the Week

An above-average athlete who can hit and run, Daulton Varsho has always been a unique catching prospect. He put that rare skill set on full display this past week for Double-A Jackson.

Arizona's No. 5 prospect earned Southern League Offensive Player of the Week honors for Aug. 5-11 after batting .421/.421/.947 with two triples, two home runs, five RBIs and four runs scored in five games. Varsho previously won a Northwest Player of the Week award in August 2017, which coincided with the first in-game delay due to a solar eclipse in baseball history.

Nothing has blocked the 23-year-old backstop's shine lately -- his big week featured a pair of three-hit games that bookended the Generals' four-game series with the Chattanooga Lookouts. He homered in each of those contests to push his season total to 15 and improve upon his career-high mark in his first taste of the upper Minors.

• View the Pitcher of the Week winners »

Varsho's breakout effort has vaulted him to the top of the Southern League leaderboards in several categories for the season: The 2017 competitive-balance pick leads the circuit with 68 runs scored and an .875 OPS, ranks third with a .372 on-base percentage and .503 slugging percentage and comes in just outside the top 10 with 17 stolen bases.

He's been at his best since the calendar flipped to July, batting .340/.424/.650 in 28 games after coming in at .264/.350/.437 in 64 games during the season's first three months. Each of his walk, home run and steal rates have also jumped during that 28-game sample as Varsho continues to get comfortable in his first season back on the East Coast since his college days at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

He may not end up behind the plate long-term -- although Arizona has yet to use him at any other position during his three-year Minor League career -- but if Varsho continues his recent success, his bat and athletic profile should play just fine if forced to move to second base or the outfield.

Below is the complete list of Minor League Offensive Players of the Week for Aug. 5-11:

League	Player	Team	MLB	Stats
International	Ramon Torres	Charlotte	CWS	.688/.688/1.563, 4 G, 11-for-16, 2 2B, 4 HR, 9 RBI, 7 R, 0 BB, 0 K
Pacific Coast	Patrick Wisdom	Nashville	TEX	.435/.500/1.391, 6 G, 10-for-23, 1 2B, 7 HR, 11 RBI, 9 R, 3 BB, 1 K, 1 SB
Eastern	Bret Boswell	Hartford	COL	.316/.350/.947, 5 G, 6-for-19, 3 2B, 3 HR, 8 RBI, 5 R, 1 BB, 6 K
Southern	Daulton Varsho	Jackson	ARI	.421/.421/.947, 5 G, 8-for-19, 2 3B, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 4 R, 0 BB, 5 K
Texas	Omar Estevez	Tulsa	LAD	.417/.517/.833, 7 G, 10-for-24, 4 2B, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 5 R, 5 BB, 5 K, 1 SB
California	Jancarlos Cintron	Visalia	ARI	.423/.444/.846, 6 G, 11-for-26, 2 2B, 3 HR, 6 RBI, 7 R, 1 BB, 1 K
Carolina	Steven Kwan	Lynchburg	CLE	.462/.548/.654, 6 G, 12-for-26, 3 2B, 1 3B, 3 RBI, 5 R, 5 BB, 0 K
Florida State	Luken Baker	Palm Beach	STL	.500/.579/.938, 5 G, 8-for-16, 4 2B, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 5 R, 3 BB, 2 K
Midwest	Peyton Burdick	Clinton	MIA	.394/.429/.758, 7 G, 13-for-33, 6 2B, 2 HR, 12 RBI, 5 R, 1 BB, 7 K
South Atlantic	Kyle Datres	Asheville	COL	.400/.500/.800, 6 G, 8-for-20, 1 3B, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 4 R, 3 BB, 5 K, 2 SB
New York-Penn	Joe Perez	Tri-City	HOU	.308/.333/.923, 7 G, 8-for-26, 2 2B, 1 3B, 4 HR, 13 RBI, 5 R, 1 BB, 7 K, 1 SB
Northwest	Liover Peguero	Hillsboro	ARI	.471/.526/.824, 4 G, 8-for-17, 4 2B, 1 3B, 2 RBI, 5 R, 2 BB, 2 K
Appalachian	Nick Schnell	Princeton	TB	.500/.593/1.182, 6 G, 11-for-22, 2 2B, 2 3B, 3 HR, 6 RBI, 9 R, 5 BB, 6 K, 2 SB
Pioneer	Brandon Lewis	Ogden	LAD	.600/.667/1.500, 3 G, 6-for-12, 3 HR, 7 RBI, 5 R, 2 BB, 3 K