MINNEAPOLIS — Miguel Vargas is on pace for a career year, and his breakout couldn’t have come at a better time for the White Sox, who must navigate at least a month without slugger Munetaka Murakami.
Since Murakami and his team-high 20 home runs went on the injured list last Saturday, Vargas has hit in Murakami’s usual No. 2 spot in four of five games. Though Vargas’ place in the lineup can change depending on the pitching matchup, it’s clear that the Sox will lean on him regardless of who’s on the mound.
After the Sox’ 8-0 victory against the Twins on Wednesday, Vargas led all major-league third basemen with 15 homers, 41 RBI, 46 runs and 40 walks. He also ranked second in on-base percentage (.368) and tied for second in slugging percentage (.502).
“It’s impressive; you see it every night,” manager Will Venable said. “He’s extremely consistent in how he approaches his preparation. It’s showing up on the field. Obviously, he feels really good and confident up there, and he continues to give himself a chance.”
Vargas already is just one homer and 19 RBI shy of his career highs, which he set last season, his first full season with the Sox. General manager Chris Getz acquired him from the Dodgers in a three-team trade in July 2024. The Dodgers deemed Vargas, a former top prospect, expendable because Max Muncy was holding down third.
He still is — Muncy was third in the majors in OPS among third basemen (.855), one spot behind Vargas — but Vargas is proving to be a steal for the Sox, who sent Erick Fedde and Tommy Pham to the Cardinals and Michael Kopech to the Dodgers in the trade. They even got Fedde back this season, for what it’s worth.
“I’m being really consistent with [swing] decisions,” Vargas said. “That was the plan we had coming into this year, to trust my eyes more and swing a little bit more. I feel in a really good spot right now and hopefully keep feeling that way.”
First-year Sox hitting coach Derek Shomon knew Vargas had been a top prospect with the Dodgers and loosely followed his career as Shomon coached with the Twins and Marlins. In the offseason, he and assistant hitting coach Joel McKeithan visited Vargas in Miami for a couple of days to get acquainted and work together.
“He’s great. High energy,” Shomon said. “He’s a jokester. He likes to talk crap, but he wears it well. He’s a super-talented player, love watching him work through his checkpoints every day. When he feels like it’s going awry, he can get back in line quickly.
“He’s a true three-skilled player: contact ability, good swing decisions and he can do damage. What you’re seeing right now, I know the bat speed is up, but it’s really a continuation of the work that he did from the second half last year into the offseason and getting the lower half to be more efficient.”
Though Vargas’ homers and RBI were down in the second half last season, his on-base and slugging percentages shot up more than 50 points each. And this season, his OPB is up almost 50 points from last season, and his SLG is up more than 100 points.
Can Vargas carry the load that Murakami had been carrying in the 2 hole?
“He absolutely can,” Shomon said. “You can count on a good at-bat. He’s a total hitter. He’s gonna draw walks, he’s gonna limit [strikeouts], he’s done it with good swing decisions. He can move the ball forward line to line or in the sky, and he can leave the yard.”
He’s also another feather in the cap for Getz.
“We were confident that he was going to take another step forward from last year; he’s done that,” Getz said. “Obviously, there were all these ingredients that we felt were in there when we acquired him. And then you put on top of that just the acumen and the work ethic, it’s really aligned for him, and he’s been a great player for us this year.”