{"id":878114,"date":"2026-10-11T02:44:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-11T02:44:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/878114\/"},"modified":"2026-10-11T02:44:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T02:44:13","slug":"al-central-notes-vargas-tigers-staff-royals-ballpark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/878114\/","title":{"rendered":"AL Central Notes: Vargas, Tigers Staff, Royals Ballpark"},"content":{"rendered":"

White Sox third baseman Miguel Vargas<\/a> has been a major part of the club\u2019s turnaround this season. The former top prospect, along with newcomer Munetaka Murakami<\/a>, fueled an offense that ranked fifth in scoring during the regular season. Vargas has set career highs in virtually every offensive category.<\/p>\n

The breakthrough season almost didn\u2019t happen. Vargas told Scott Merkin of MLB.com<\/a> this week that he considered leaving baseball after the 2024 campaign. It\u2019s a topic he touched on earlier this season, but he expanded on it in the recent interview with MLB.com.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got to the last couple of weeks of that year, I sit with my dad and we actually \u2026 it wasn\u2019t the first time talking about not playing,\u201d Vargas said. \u201cIt\u2019s just a hard moment.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Vargas was dealt from the Dodgers to the White Sox at the 2024 trade deadline. He never found his footing in Los Angeles. Vargas hit just .104 in 42 games with Chicago to close the year. He compiled 237 plate appearances of a brutal 47 wRC+ between the two teams.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was so easy to stop playing, but I don\u2019t have an answer to what I wanted to do,\u201d Vargas said. \u201cThis is what I have done my whole life. I don\u2019t know how to do anything else. So, I think that was the scary part. This is what I\u2019ve done my whole life. This is what I want to continue to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 2025 season was a step forward. Vargas notched a respectable .717 OPS as an everyday player for the first time. He took a leap this year, launching 33 home runs and driving in 106. Vargas ranked 16th among all qualified hitters with a 134 wRC+. He even chipped in 22 stolen bases.<\/p>\n

Vargas has been an on-base machine in the playoffs, with a massive .464 OBP through six games, in large part due to nine walks. He belted his first postseason homer on Thursday in Game 4 of the ALDS.<\/p>\n

Here are a couple of other items from around the division\u2026<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Tigers\u00a0made several staff changes this week, per Evan Woodbery of MLive Media Group<\/a>. Head athletic trainer\u00a0Ryne Eubanks and assistant trainer Chris McDonald won\u2019t be back next season. The club also parted ways with minor league director of operations Peter Bransfield, outfield and baserunning coordinator Arnie Beyeler, and mental performance coordinator Aaron Lewis.
\nThe Royals\u00a0received a positive legislative update on its new ballpark. Kansas City mayor Quinton Lucas announced<\/a> that the town council approved financing for a stadium at Crown Center, a shopping complex near downtown Kansas City. Lucas added in a statement that the legislation will pave the way for a \u201ctransformational baseball-centered district that delivers for residents, workers, and neighborhoods.\u201d The Royals have played at Kauffman Stadium since 1973.<\/p>\n

Photo courtesy of Matt Marton, Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"White Sox third baseman Miguel Vargas has been a major part of the club\u2019s turnaround this season. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":878115,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[76813,363,99],"class_list":["post-878114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-miguel-vargas","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=878114"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878114\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/878115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=878114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=878114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=878114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}