Miguel Vargas ‘Created An Opportunity For Himself’ After Poor Rookie Season

The Los Angeles Dodgers called up Miguel Vargas from Triple-A Oklahoma City as one of several transactions they made on Friday.

Vargas received the call to the Majors after tearing it up with Triple-A Oklahoma City. In 39 games, Vargas had a .295 batting average, 1.019 on-base plus slugging percentage and eight home runs.

Vargas was on the Dodgers’ 2023 Opening Day roster as the team’s starting second baseman, but was later sent down to Triple-A after struggling in the Majors.

He was dealt a bad hand, literally, in 2023 as he tried to take control of the everyday second base job for the Dodgers. He suffered an injury to his pinky finger early in Spring Training last year, an injury that notably caused him to not swing while at the plate during exhibition games. To make matters worse, he was also hit on his thumb during the regular season.

Vargas acknowledged that the injuries played a role in his disappointing 2023 season in the Majors, according to Jack Harris and Mike DiGiovanna of the L.A. Times:

“I feel like the injuries I had last year really affected my swing,” Vargas said before Friday night’s game. “I was doing a lot of bad habits, putting the ball in the air a little bit more, and it was hard for me to get back to what I wanted to be.”

The Dodgers are confident that Vargas’ poor numbers last season were an outlier as a result of the injury and the way he finished 2023 in the Minors. His numbers in 2024 support this reasoning.

After recovering from his injury and getting away from the habits it caused, Vargas once again looked like the player the Dodgers thought he could be as he .288/.407/.479 in 60 games with Oklahoma City in 2023:

“He’s back to being who he is, and I hope that carries over,” Roberts said. “He has a lot more clarity. He’s taking better swings, better at-bats, much better production. We felt that he needed a change in environment [last season] and to his credit, he’s dominated down there, and he’s created an opportunity for himself.”

Vargas made the transition to left field during Spring Training this season in an effort to find his way onto the Opening Day roster and into the Dodgers’ future plans.

He also has experience playing second base in 2023, but was a corner infielder for most of his career previously. This positional versatility should help him carve out some at-bats for himself for however long he remains on the Major League roster this time around.

Dodgers lose Emmet Sheehan for the season

Emmet Sheehan was expected to compete for a spot in the starting rotation for the Dodgers this year before his season was derailed by body soreness he experienced early in Spring Training and that later became right forearm inflammation. He has been on the 60-day injured list since late March, but now he will be unavailable for the rest of 2024 and at least parts of 2025 after receiving right elbow UCL surgery on Thursday.