Dodgers’ Miguel Vargas Looking Forward to Proving Himself in Big Leagues This Season
The Los Angeles Dodgers are giving their young-right-handed slugger, Miguel Vargas, another shot at the big leagues. The Dodgers recalled Vargas from Triple-A Oklahoma City on Friday.
Vargas will get another shot to prove himself at the big league level, and this time, he’s hoping to make it count. The 24-year-old spoke to the media before Friday’s game, including Los Angeles Times staff writers Jack Harris and Mike DiGiovanna. Vargas said he’s learned from his lesson.
“I feel like the injuries I had last year really affected my swing,” Vargas said before Friday night’s game. “I was doing a lot of bad habits, putting the ball in the air a little bit more, and it was hard for me to get back to what I wanted to be.”
— Miguel Vargas, via The Los Angeles Times
The righty slugger was a monster in the minor leagues, especially this season, slashing .302/.442/.590 with eight home runs and 39 RBIs in 181 plate appearances. However, Vargas has yet to find his groove in the majors. Due to his significant struggles, Vargas was sent back down to the minors during the All-Star break and never made it back to the majors in 2023.
He went hitless in three plate appearances against the Reds on Saturday.
The Cuban native feels like he has it figured out in the baseball side of things and even the mental part. The 24-year-old spoke to reporters, including MLB.com’s Juan Toribio, and said his family played a part in helping him find himself.
“It was really tough for me. I’ve never struggled like that before,” Vargas said. “Obviously, every player’s goal is to play in the Majors. It was really difficult for me to accept that I was struggling that bad and that I was getting sent down, but things just didn’t go as I planned. My family really helped me this offseason. They helped me understand that failure is part of the game and life. I just had to learn from that and I think last year made me a stronger person.”
— Miguel Vargas, via MLB.com
This will be Vargas’ second chance in the big leagues, and he’s hoping to make the most of it. If all pans out for the righty slugger, he could play a vital role for the Dodgers for the rest of the season and possibly October.
Photo Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
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Career minor leaguer, that one. I think maybe he could figure it out, maybe, if he played non stop for a while….but not gonna happen here. We already have: Outman pages doing that. And CT3 again. And a Barnes-lite. We can’t have 4 guys hitting a combined.175
I don’t think so. Has never looked good at the majors level. We should bundle a bunch of our guys who can’t break .200 and trade them for some other team’s guys with similar performance. Sometimes a change of venue really helps a hitter, and coaches can have an effect on some players but not others.
And we need to make some mid-season trades. We can’t have 6 guys struggling to hit .200 and expect to win in the playoffs.
I don’t see how Vargas will make much progress playing a couple of times a week against lefties. Dodgers should have signed Tommy Pham.