Miguel Vargas has turned a rough start into a rising trajectory, thanks in large part to a swing adjustment he and the White Sox coaching staff implemented in late April. After joining the White Sox in last season’s three-team blockbuster that also involved the Dodgers, Vargas looked destined for a breakout that never arrived, posting a .104/.217/.170 slash line over 42 games with Chicago.
The 2025 season opened with a stumble, as Vargas sat at .139/.235/.194 on April 19. But a mid-April swing tweak set him on a hot streak that carried into May, when he exploded for seven homers and an .899 OPS. Although June brought him back down to earth with a .204 average, Vargas has remained a productive presence at the plate, showing enough consistency to suggest he belongs in the majors.
The turnaround has not gone unnoticed. MLB Network recently ranked Vargas as the sixth-most improved player in baseball this season, a nod to how far he’s come from last year’s struggles. Greg Amsinger highlighted Vargas’s transformation, noting that his combined .150 batting average last season across the Dodgers and White Sox underscored how lost he looked at the plate, and added that Vargas is now a player you can dream on as a very young hitter.
The gains extend beyond the surface numbers. FanGraphs shows Vargas climbing from a -1.0 fWAR season to about 0.9 fWAR this year, with his wRC+ moving from a 46 last year to a value near league-average. His hard-hit rate has jumped about 14 percentage points from 26.3%, and his strikeout rate has dropped from 24.1% to 17.1%. One of the key improvements is his ability to catch up to velocity; he hit only .145 against fastballs in 2024, and has bumped that to around .230 this season.
While the May surge suggested a potential All-Star breakout, Vargas’s June and July performances tempered that notion. Still, the overall growth—coupled with a stronger August—offers hope that he can be a solid, reliable contributor with a higher floor for Chicago’s rebuilding lineup rather than a mere flash in the pan.
For a White Sox club eyeing sustained competitiveness, Vargas’s development is a valuable foundation. He’s still young, continues to trend upward, and has shown the kind of plate discipline and contact ability that can anchor a lineup as the team builds toward its next contending era.
Key numbers
– May: seven home runs, OPS .899
– April 19 line: .139/.235/.194; season improved since then
– 2024 to 2025 metrics: fWAR from -1.0 to ~0.9; wRC+ from 46 to near league-average
– Hard-hit rate up ~14 percentage points from 26.3%
– Strikeout rate down from 24.1% to 17.1%
– Fastball hitting improved from .145 to about .230
What this means going forward
– Vargas’s swing adjustment appears to have unlocked a more competent hitter with a higher ceiling and a more sustainable approach.
– The White Sox will likely lean on his developmental arc as a core piece of their lineup as they continue to rebuild.
– If he maintains the trend, Vargas could offer steady production with upside, providing the team with a reliable, upward-moving floor rather than mere flashes of brilliance.
Overall, Vargas’s season reflects a meaningful and measurable transformation—one that gives Chicago a hopeful sign of a productive, long-term contributor in the heart of its order.