After another hitless performance on April 21st, Miguel Vargas bottomed out at a .139 batting average and .438 OPS after 22 games. His cold start to 2025 felt eerily similar to his second half last season when he hit just .104 in 42 games with the White Sox. The clock was starting to tick on the former top 100 prospect. He had always hit in the minor leagues but seemingly could not translate that success to the MLB level. Adjustments were needed to get him back on track.
Thanks to a relatively minor tweak in his pre-pitch setup in the batter’s box, Vargas has not only started trending in the right direction again, but given the White Sox reason to believe they made the right decision to acquire him in a blockbuster trade with the Dodgers last year.
Mechanical Tweaks
Per LaMond Pope of the Chicago Tribune, the White Sox hitting coaches and biomechanics staff noticed a hole in Vargas’s swing early in the season. He could not consistently catch up to fastballs, particularly in the top part of the strike zone. Pitchers kept pounding his weaknesses as Vargas kept swinging and missing.
As a result, White Sox Director of Hitting Ryan Fuller and his staff recommended that Vargas raise his hands as part of his setup. The idea was that this adjustment would alter his swing plane, eliminating the holes in his swing and allowing him to cover the top of the strike zone more effectively, creating more contact and less swing and miss.
Adjustments Have Paid Dividends
Vargas has been a completely different hitter since making this adjustment. He is slashing .381/.469/.548 with a 1.017 OPS, including a double and two home runs in his last 12 games since altering his hand placement. Not only has he been putting up stellar numbers as of late, but he has cut down the strikeouts significantly. Vargas has struck out only six times in 49 plate appearances over this span. His 12% strikeout rate during this stretch is considerably lower than his career strikeout rate of 21.9%. The adjustments haven’t impacted his plate discipline either, as he has also seven walks over the same timeframe. His overall numbers on the season are still relatively pedestrian given his cold start, but Vargas has added nearly 70 points to his batting average and almost 200 points to his OPS in the last two weeks.
Defensive Improvements
Vargas has also transformed into a quality defensive third baseman this season. He ranks in the 70th percentile in Range (OAA), the 64th percentile in Fielding Run Value, and above average in arm strength per Baseball Savant. He has settled in nicely at third base as the team looks for a long-term solution following the departure of longtime fixture Yoán Moncada this past offseason.
White Sox Could Have A Keeper
Miguel Vargas made it his mission to put last season in the rearview mirror and prove why he was a top prospect in the Dodgers organization. He gained 20 pounds over the winter to better prepare himself for the grind of a long season and has put in time with the coaching staff to refine his swing and address his weaknesses. His work has started to pay off. He is amid one of the best stretches of his MLB career and is now proving why the White Sox thought so highly of him when they initially acquired him last summer.
