By José Alejandro Rodríguez Zas
Talented Cuban baseball player Miguel Vargas made his Major League debut with the Los Angeles Dodgers during the 2022 MLB season. Although his statistical results were not remarkable, he had some moments of prominence in the team and showed that, from now on, he is a Big League player.
A .170 (8 for 47) batting average, with a double and a home run as extra-base hits, eight runs batted in and four runs scored, one stolen base, two walks and an offensive line of .200/.255/.455 (OBP/SLG/OPS), was the performance of the Cuban, translated into numbers, during 18 games in the Majors.
Defensively, he committed only one error in 68 chances, totaled 44 outs and three assists in 86.2 innings, in addition to participating in two double plays.
In Triple-A, Vargas did have an excellent performance to the point of winning the Player of the Year award at that level, based on his great numbers with the Oklahoma City Dodgers. In 113 games, he hit .304 (133 for 438), with 32 doubles, four triples and 17 home runs, while recording 82 runs batted in, 100 runs scored, 16 stolen bases in 21 attempts and a .404/.511/.915 slash line.
Because of the conditions he demonstrated on the field, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts always gave the Cuban the necessary confidence to get playing time with the team in the Majors and, in fact, also included him in the roster for the postseason.
This is a reality that, apparently, remains in the mind of the skipper for the 2023 MLB campaign, according to Roberts’s latest statements about Vargas offered to The Athletic’s Starkville podcast.
Doc on Miguel Vargas on the Starkville Pod:
— Doug McKain (@DMAC_LA) December 1, 2022
"Miguel Vargas is someone who next year is going to play for us a lot. He needs a look, he needs a runway and we're gonna do that for him."
Miggy szn 2023.
Undoubtedly, this is excellent news for the Cuban, who has plenty of talent to succeed in the Major Leagues, but having the support of his manager is a great incentive, especially in a franchise as complex as the Dodgers.
The time has come for Vargas to demonstrate in the 2023 MLB campaign that in the future of the organization that plays in the National League West Division, they should count on him as a protagonist.
