{"id":213752,"date":"2026-03-31T23:12:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T23:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/213752\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T23:12:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T23:12:10","slug":"miami-homecoming-gives-miguel-vargas-strong-foundation-to-step-up-in-white-sox-clubhouse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/213752\/","title":{"rendered":"Miami homecoming gives Miguel Vargas strong foundation to step up in White Sox clubhouse"},"content":{"rendered":"

MIAMI \u2014 The sheer volume of raucous cheers inside cavernous loanDepot Park this week have belied modest Miami crowd sizes and even the team receiving those ovations.<\/p>\n

There were only 6,515 fans there to watch Miguel Vargas walk to the plate with the bases loaded in the fourth inning Monday night. But from the roar that followed the ball he cracked into the Florida night, you might\u2019ve thought Vargas had clubbed one 402 feet into the left field bleachers at Rate Field \u2014 or to a home crowd in his native Havana.<\/p>\n

Then again, they\u2019re all home games down here for Vargas, the Cuban-born Miami resident who\u2019s just as beloved by his White Sox<\/a> teammates and a front office that\u2019s looking for him to take a significant step in his development as a clubhouse leader and a key cog of their organizational rebuild.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re not supposed to have favorites, but as a human, as a person, he is one of my favorites,\u201d gushed manager Will Venable, who equally adores Vargas\u2019 versatility in the field and in the batting order. \u201cHe\u2019s just such a personable guy. He\u2019s so caring.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arriving on the South Side in the Michael Kopech trade just in time for the worst days of the 2024 season\u2019s record-breaking futility, Vargas\u2019 numbers over his first full season last year were solid, if not necessarily screaming \u201cfranchise building block.\u201d He hit .234\/.316\/.401 with 16 homers and 32 doubles in 138 games.<\/p>\n

And the 26-year-old is off to a quality start at the plate in Year 2, if the grand slam didn\u2019t give it away<\/a>. Through four games, Vargas was 4-for-13 with and two walks. He\u2019s also been steady on defense, entering the year as the closest thing to an everyday third baseman for the perpetual lineup shuffler Venable.<\/p>\n

Vargas got his first homer of the year while playing first base and he\u2019s got no small ambitions wherever he lines up. Just ask him about his desire to win a Gold Glove<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cDefinitely trying to be the best I can,\u201d said Vargas, who played as a teenager for the Industriales de La Habana in the Cuban National League.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Miguel<\/p>\n

Miguel Vargas (left) and Austin Hays celebrate after defeating the Miami Marlins Monday.<\/p>\n

Marta Lavandier\/AP Photos<\/p>\n

His father, L\u00e1zaro Vargas, won two Olympic gold medals with Cuba in the 1990s, adding to the interest in Miguel\u2019s career back home. English-speaking reporters are outnumbered in the clubhouse this week by Spanish-speaking media catching up with Vargas and other Sox with local ties like catcher Edgar Quero and rookie reliever Jedixson Paez, along with the sizable Japanese press corps following Vargas\u2019 new friend and teammate Munetaka Murakami.<\/p>\n

Vargas took his fellow first\/third baseman under his wing at spring training, and borrowed Murakami\u2019s first base mitt on Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been doing a really good job, especially trusting the guy next to you, behind you, getting on base and doing the right things for winning baseball games,\u201d Vargas said. \u201cI think we\u2019re in the right spot right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

After his career-high six-RBI night \u2014 which automatically put him in an early tie as the MLB leader entering play Tuesday \u2014 Vargas caught up with dozens of relatives and friends in the stands. \u201cThey\u2019ve been supporting me my entire career, and I love playing in front of them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

This stage of his career finds Vargas evolving into a team leader, Venable said. \u201cOnce you establish yourself in this league, you get a little more time under your belt, you perform a little better, your vocal leadership has the ability to grow a little more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vargas\u2019 other new teammate, Austin Hays, said he recognized that when he walked in the clubhouse.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s one of those guys, he\u2019s like a light anywhere he goes,\u201d the veteran outfielder said. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to have guys like that in the clubhouse\u2026 He\u2019s definitely one of those guys that is always going to keep everybody up and keep everybody going.\u201d<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not just the charisma. \u201cHe\u2019s got a lot of power to all sides of the field, he\u2019s got pretty good plate discipline,\u201d Hays said. \u201cI think he can put up some really good numbers.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MIAMI \u2014 The sheer volume of raucous cheers inside cavernous loanDepot Park this week have belied modest Miami…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":213753,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-213752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213752"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213752\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/213753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}