Oh my goodness, Miguel Vargas

Phil Gurnee ♦ July 16, 2018 ♦ Leave a comment

I tend to ignore what happens in the short season rookie leagues because I’ve been burned way too many times getting excited about what happens in Odgen but I can’t take my eyes away from what 18-year-old Miguel Vargas is doing this summer for the Raptors.

Miguel Vargas is from Cuba and got to the United States when he and his dad defected together in the summer of 2015. His dad was a legendary Cuban baseball player and his son was considered one of the top Cuban prospects but the Dodgers were able to sign him for only $300,000 last September.  This would be proper as the Dodgers have thrown millions at Cuban prospects that have not panned out so why not hit a home run with a fairly minor signing.

Vargas only lasted thirty-one at-bats in the Arizona rookie league before being promoted to the more advanced Pioneer League. Since arriving with the Odgen Raptors Vargas has put up video game numbers with a triple stat line of .522 / .569 / .804 in forty-six at-bats.  Overall, he has only struck out five times in seventy – seven at-bats.  2017 Number one pick Jeren Kendall will strike out five times in two games. Any two games.  So far Vargas has split time between 1st and 3rd, getting a few more games at 3rd than 1st.  In his last five games he is 12 for 22 with only one strikeout.  Hopefully, he will play for the Loons this summer so we can see what he does against advanced competition because right now he’s overwhelming the Pioneer League pitching.

In the summer of 2016 the Dodgers traded Cuban bonus baby 19-year-old Yordan Alvarez for Josh Fields.  Yordan never played for Dodgers in the United States but is now one of the top prospects in the game and represented Houston in the Futures game this past Sunday.

Will the Dodgers trade another Cuban teen-ager this summer?