After a rocky start to his White Sox tenure, Miguel Vargas is emerging as one of the team’s most complete players early in 2026, showing real growth at the plate and defensively at third base.
A sweep of the defending American League champion Toronto Blue Jays has given Chicago White Sox fans a surge of energy and optimism about what’s to come in 2026.
It certainly hasn’t always been pretty to start the season. The White Sox still have a minus-24 run differential, the second-worst mark in Major League Baseball. But over the weekend, they found ways to win close games, and a handful of players are off to encouraging starts.
There’s no bigger story than Munetaka Murakami. The Japanese slugger turned White Sox first baseman has already shown that his skill set translates. Murakami has struck out 13 times through nine games, but that’s not unexpected. The important numbers are the six walks, four home runs, seven RBIs, and .955 OPS. As long as he’s driving the ball and getting on base, the White Sox are going to be thrilled with what he brings to the lineup every day.
Davis Martin is 2-0 and has won both of his starts, Grant Taylor has been electric as an opener, and Colson Montgomery has already delivered a pair of big home runs. Those are some of the early standouts. But through nine games, there may not be a better — or more surprising — performer for Chicago than Miguel Vargas.
Vargas, who was acquired from the Los Angeles Dodgers at the 2024 trade deadline, has steadily improved since joining the White Sox. His initial stint with the team was rough. He hit just .104 with a .387 OPS in the second half of 2024, and those struggles carried over into the start of the 2025 season.
On April 21 of last year, Vargas was hitting .139 with a .438 OPS. Things were looking dire 22 games in. But after making a swing change late in April, he looked like a different player the rest of the way. Over his final 116 games, Vargas posted 27 doubles, two triples, 16 home runs, a .252 batting average, and a .769 OPS. He even finished with a 100 OPS+, right at league average.
Now, to open 2026, Vargas has been one of Chicago’s most complete hitters while also making noticeable strides defensively.
He’s appeared in all nine games and is slashing .276/.389/.552 (.941 OPS) with three doubles, one triple, one home run, and seven RBIs — which is tied for the team lead. He’s also chipped in three stolen bases, already half of his 2025 total and career high of six.
Vargas' 0.4 fWAR is tied with Murakami for the second-highest mark on the team, trailing only Sean Burke (0.5).
Some of the underlying metrics are just as impressive. Vargas has posted an 11.5% chase rate, ranking in the 99th percentile in baseball. He’s also well above average in walk rate, whiff rate, squared-up percentage, and expected slugging.
Defensively, Vargas made a clear offseason commitment to improve, even setting a goal of winning an AL Gold Glove at third base. That's an aggressive goal that he may never reach, but Vargas does look noticeably more comfortable at the position, and it’s already making a difference.
“I’m just trying to go out there and compete every single pitch and just try to do the best for my teammates,” Vargas said after Sunday’s sweep. “Not just only on the offense. We’ve been playing really good defense, and I just want to be part of it.”
The White Sox have a strong starting infield, and there’s more talent on the way. Vargas is playing for his future with the organization in 2026, with Caleb Bonemer and Billy Carlson climbing the pipeline and Roch Cholowsky potentially joining the organization this summer.
To stick long term, Vargas needs to prove he can be more than an average bat with below-average defense at third base.
So far, he’s done more than that. He’s shown signs of being very good on both sides of the ball, and in my opinion, it’s been the most impressive start of any White Sox player this season.