Dodgers News: Miguel Vargas Drove 5 Hours a Day to Work With JD Martinez This Offseason
Dodgers young prospect Miguel Vargas has made it clear that he’s determined to be a star. When the Dodgers added veteran infielder Miguel Rojas, Vargas made it his mission to learn from him and absorb anything and everything he could about being a defender. But Rojas isn’t the only Dodger veteran Vargas worked with this offseason.
While Vargas is a top prospect in the Dodgers organization because of his hitting, he knows there’s always room to improve. That’s why when he found out longtime MLB veteran and new Dodger J.D. Martinez was living in Florida during the offseason, Vargas made it his mission to learn from him, too. The only problem was, Martinez was a little far away, and wasn’t going to come to Vargas. But for the 23-year-old, that wasn’t actually a problem at all.
Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported this incredible story, and shared how often Vargas drove to meet Martinez to work on hitting — and how long it took him to get there.
“In the month leading to spring training, Vargas hit with Martinez three to four times a week at Nova Southeastern University in Davie, Fla.
‘I would drive five hours every day to work with him,’ Vargas said.”
Five hours a day Vargas spent driving to and from Nova Southeasten University to work with Martinez! Five hours!
Commitment and dedication aren’t exactly things you can measure with stats, but if there was any way to measure it, this would be the way.
At just 23 years old, Vargas has so much room to grow and develop into a star in the major leagues. However, he knows he can’t do it alone. Fortunately for him, he’s surrounded by so many incredible veterans on this Dodgers roster — but it’s not like they’re going to reach out to him. Luckily, Vargas has taken it upon himself to make those connections, and will be a much better player because of it.
While we haven’t gotten to see Vargas swing the bat yet, we’re expecting to get a glimpse of it soon. And we can assume that he’s going to look much better than he did in his limited time in the majors last year, thanks to his five-hour commutes to work with Martinez.
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