Miguel Vargas

24-Year-Old Second Baseman2B

Chicago White Sox

2024 Stats

AVG

.166

RBI

Rest-of-Season Projections

AVG

RBI

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2024 Fantasy Outlook

Vargas was a trendy pick in 2023 fantasy drafts as news emerged that he would be the Dodgers' Opening Day second baseman, but by mid-July he was back in the minors, where he remained for the remainder of the campaign. The heralded prospect struggled to a .195/.305/.367 slash line over 81 games, and the demotion came after he batted a paltry .079 (5-for-63) over his final 23 contests. Despite the disappointing stat line, there are reasons to believe that Vargas can succeed at the MLB level. He demonstrated refined plate discipline while up with the big club, posting a hearty 12.5 percent walk rate and a respectable 20.1 percent strikeout rate along with a borderline-elite 20.8 percent chase rate, per Statcast. Vargas didn't hit the ball hard consistently, but it's promising that of his 50 big-league hits last year, over half went for extra bases. Importantly, Vargas didn't sulk after being sent down, instead extending his run of minor-league success with an .886 OPS and 10 homers over 60 Triple-A contests. Los Angeles filled the void at second base following Vargas' demotion primarily by transitioning Mookie Betts from right field, and the experiment went smoothly enough that Betts will likely see considerable time at the keystone again in 2024. While that could limit Vargas' opportunities at the position, it may also mean that he gets reps in the corner outfield, where he logged some time down the stretch in the minors last season. It's unlikely that he'll be handed the keys to a starting spot out the gate as he was last year, but the Dodgers clearly still see Vargas as a part of their future, and he could earn a substantial role with a strong spring. Read Past Outlooks

RANKS

Rest of Season

Dynasty

From Preseason

#414

ADP

League Majors

Bats R

Throws R

40 Man Yes

Height 6'3"

Weight 205

DOB 11/17/1999

Born Havana, Cuba

College None

Drafted 2017 LAD

Losing work to Ramos

2BChicago White Sox

September 15, 2024

Vargas is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against the Athletics.

ANALYSIS
Vargas will take a seat for the second day in a row and for the third time in five contests. Bryan Ramos appears to have supplanted Vargas as Chicago's preferred option at third base, though both players could see their opportunities dry up if Yoan Moncada (adductor) is able to return from the injured list later in the week.

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Batting Stats

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2024

2023

2022

2024 MLB Game Log

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2023 MLB Game Log

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2022 MLB Game Log

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Minor League Game Log

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Batting Order Slot Breakdown

vs Right-Handed Pitchers

vs RHP

vs Left-Handed Pitchers

vs LHP

Left/Right Batting Splits

Since 2022

+8%

OPS vs LHP

2024

+26%

OPS vs LHP

2023

+5%

OPS vs LHP

2022

+7%

OPS vs LHP

	OPS	PA	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OBP	SLG
Since 2022vs Left	.632	194	21	6	20	2	.188	.273	.359
Since 2022vs Right	.587	352	36	6	34	4	.179	.282	.305
2024vs Left	.611	77	7	2	6	0	.211	.273	.338
2024vs Right	.485	116	10	2	8	2	.133	.250	.235
2023vs Left	.696	93	11	3	10	2	.171	.301	.395
2023vs Right	.662	210	25	4	22	1	.206	.306	.356
2022vs Left	.471	24	3	1	4	0	.174	.167	.304
2022vs Right	.439	26	1	0	4	1	.167	.231	.208
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Home/Away Batting Splits

Since 2022

+8%

OPS on Road

2024

Even Split

2023

+4%

OPS on Road

2022

+51%

OPS on Road

	OPS	PA	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OBP	SLG
Since 2022Home	.581	286	33	5	24	1	.179	.284	.297
Since 2022Away	.627	260	24	7	30	5	.186	.273	.354
2024Home	.538	99	10	2	6	0	.172	.263	.276
2024Away	.536	94	7	2	8	2	.159	.255	.280
2023Home	.658	149	19	2	15	1	.195	.324	.333
2023Away	.684	154	17	5	17	2	.195	.286	.398
2022Home	.406	38	4	1	3	0	.139	.184	.222
2022Away	.614	12	0	0	5	1	.273	.250	.364
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Stat Review

How does Miguel Vargas compare to other hitters?

This section compares his stats with all batting seasons from the previous three seasons (minimum 400 plate appearances)*. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. For example, if the bar is halfway across, then the player falls into the 50th percentile for that stat and it would be considered average.

* Exit Velocity and Barrels/PA % are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 400 PA) and Hard Hit Rate is benchmarked against last season's data (min 400 PA). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.

BB/K
Walk to strikeout ratio
BB Rate
The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a walk.
K Rate
The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a strikeout.
BABIP
Batting average on balls in play. Measures how many of a batter’s balls in play go for hits.
ISO
Isolated Power. Slugging percentage minus batting average. A computation used to measure a batter's raw power.
AVG
Batting average. Hits divided by at bats.
OBP
On Base Percentage. A measure of how often a batters reaches base. Roughly equal to number of times on base divided by plate appearances.
SLG
Slugging Percentage. A measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats.
OPS
On base plus slugging. THe sum of a batter's on-base percentage and slugging percentage.
wOBA
Weighted on-base average. Measures a player's overall offensive contributions per plate appearance. wOBA combines all the different aspects of hitting into one metric, weighting each of them in proportion to their actual run value.
Exit Velocity
The speed of the baseball as it comes off the bat, immediately after a batter makes contact.
Hard Hit Rate
A measure of contact quality from Sports Info Solutions. This stat explains what percentage of batted balls were hit hard vs. medium or soft.
Barrels/PA
The percentage of plate appearances where a batter had a batted ball classified as a Barrel. A Barrel is a batted ball with similar exit velocity and launch angle to past ones that led to a minimum .500 batting average and 1.500 slugging percentage.
Expected BA
Expected Batting Average.
Expected SLG
Expected Slugging Percentage.
Sprint Speed
The speed of a runner from home to first, in feet per second.
Ground Ball %
The percentage of balls put in play that are on the ground.
Line Drive %
The percentage of balls put in play that are line drives.
Fly Ball %
The percentage of balls put in play that are fly balls.

BB/K

0.40

BB Rate

10.4%

K Rate

25.9%

BABIP

.205

ISO

.112

AVG

.166

OBP

.259

SLG

.278

OPS

.537

wOBA

.247

Exit Velocity

85.4 mph

Hard Hit Rate

24.8%

Barrels/PA

3.1%

Expected BA

.180

Expected SLG

.300

Sprint Speed

23.6 ft/sec

Ground Ball %

33.1%

Line Drive %

19.0%

Fly Ball %

47.9%

Prospect Rankings History

View Complete Miguel Vargas Prospect Ranking History

Advanced Batting Stats

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Additional Stats

Games By Position

Defensive Stats

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Batted Ball Stats

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Stats Vs Upcoming Pitchers

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Recent RotoWire Articles Featuring Miguel Vargas See More

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2 days ago

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13 days ago

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Weekly Hitter Rankings: Raise the Jolly Roger

16 days ago

Bryan Reynolds and the Pirates top Todd Zola’s hitter rankings for the week of September 2 to September 8.

Weekly Hitter Rankings: Playing for Both Sides

23 days ago

Bobby Witt and the Royals play eight games the week of August 26 to September 1, making them a top team in Todd Zola's weekly hitter rankings.

Past Fantasy Outlooks

2023

2022

2020

2019

Vargas is simply one of the best pure hitters who is still technically a prospect. He hit .304/.404/.511 with a 14.6 K%, 31.7 Hard% and 17 home runs in 113 games as a 22-year-old at Triple-A and predictably played sparingly during a cup of coffee in the majors. His team context - the Dodgers seemingly always have a few quality options for his positions (first base, third base, left field) - is by far the biggest knock on Vargas in the short term. Vargas is not thought of as a burner, but he stole 17 bases on 22 attempts and has a 94th percentile sprint speed, so he could at least be a 4.5-category contributor with regular playing time. He is talented enough to take the left field job and run with it early this season, but it's possible that the Dodgers' crowded depth chart leads to Vargas being a post-hype sleeper in 2024.

Always seen as a bat-first player with a strong hit tool, Vargas solidified himself as a top-50 prospect for dynasty leagues by hitting for significantly more power than he had to date against full-season pitching. He hit .319/.380/.526 with 23 home runs, a 16.4 K% and an 8.3 BB% in 120 games at High-A and Double-A. He was at least 40% better than the average hitter at each level and clearly has one of the better hit tools in the minors. Vargas will chase out of the zone a decent amount, but his ability to make contact and do damage on pitches in the zone allowed him to have a dominant season at an appropriate age (21) for his levels. Vargas got work at third base, second base and first base last season and could qualify at some combination of those positions in the majors. The Dodgers have a never-ending stream of infielders marching to the majors, but Vargas might be the best hitter of those who have yet to reach The Show. He will likely spend most of the year at Triple-A and could earn the call sometime this summer.

Vargas is a great hitter with an uncertain defensive home in an organization with seemingly unlimited depth on the position player side. This makes him a tricky player to evaluate for dynasty leagues. His 19.4 Hard% is a very poor mark for a player with his defensive profile, but considering over 35% of his hits went to the opposite field and he played half the year as a 19-year-old at High-A, we can excuse the lack of blistering contact for now. Vargas is a hitter first, and a power hitter second, but the power will have to come eventually for him to get playing time. As a 6-foot-3, 205-pound third baseman who throws and hits right-handed, it will be imperative that he maintains the lateral agility necessary to stick at the hot corner, as the Dodgers probably won't find room for a player of his ilk at first base. He kept his weight in check last season, which is an encouraging sign.

After a two-year absence from competitive baseball, Vargas burst onto the dynasty-league radar by leading the Pioneer League with a .394 AVG before earning a promotion to the Midwest League. Vargas, who turned 19 in November, defected from Cuba when he was 16 and signed with the Dodgers for $300,000 in September of 2017. He was too advanced for rookie-level pitchers, but met some resistance at Low-A. Vargas used the whole field at all three stops, but after his promotion to Low-A, his LD% plummeted from 25.3% to 17.9% and his GB% spiked from 38.0% to 51.8%, which largely explains his drop in production. Already 6-foot-3, 200 pounds, it is quite possible Vargas (R/R) will be a below-average defensive third baseman by the time he is big-league ready, but the Dodgers won't move him to first base until they absolutely have to. His offensive production has a chance to be good enough for mediocre defense to be tolerated at third base.

More Fantasy News

Sitting Saturday

2BChicago White Sox

September 14, 2024

Vargas is not in Saturday's lineup against the Athletics.

ANALYSIS
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Absent from lineup

2BChicago White Sox

September 10, 2024

Vargas is not in the lineup for Tuesday's contest versus the Guardians.

ANALYSIS
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Back in lineup

2BChicago White Sox

September 7, 2024

Vargas (eye) is playing third base and batting eighth Saturday against the Red Sox.

ANALYSIS
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Still out Friday

2BChicago White Sox

Eye

September 6, 2024

Vargas (eye) is not in Friday's lineup against the Red Sox.

ANALYSIS
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Sitting out Wednesday

2BChicago White Sox

Eye

September 4, 2024

Vargas (eye) is not in the lineup for Wednesday's game in Baltimore, Roch Kubatko of MASNSports.com reports.

ANALYSIS
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Latest Fantasy Rumors

May be in danger of demotion

2BLos Angeles Dodgers

July 7, 2023

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Friday that Vargas could be demoted to the minors if he continues to struggle offensively, Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times reports.

ANALYSIS
The 23-year-old has been absent from the starting lineup in three of the Dodgers' last four games, with Mookie Betts instead getting the call at second base. Vargas brought considerable fantasy hype into the 2023 campaign, but he's slashing just .133/.235/.286 over his last 116 plate appearances dating back to May 26. His season OPS has fallen to .670.

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