Miguel Vargas

Miguel Vargas

23-Year-Old First Baseman1B
Los Angeles Dodgers
2023 Fantasy Outlook
Vargas is simply one of the best pure hitters who is still technically a prospect. He hit .304/.404/.511 with a 14.6 K%, 31.7 Hard% and 17 home runs in 113 games as a 22-year-old at Triple-A and predictably played sparingly during a cup of coffee in the majors. His team context - the Dodgers seemingly always have a few quality options for his positions (first base, third base, left field) - is by far the biggest knock on Vargas in the short term. Vargas is not thought of as a burner, but he stole 17 bases on 22 attempts and has a 94th percentile sprint speed, so he could at least be a 4.5-category contributor with regular playing time. He is talented enough to take the left field job and run with it early this season, but it's possible that the Dodgers' crowded depth chart leads to Vargas being a post-hype sleeper in 2024. Read Past Outlooks
RANKS
$Signed a one-year contract with the Dodgers in August of 2022.
Strong results at plate
1BLos Angeles Dodgers
March 18, 2023
Vargas has gone 7-for-16 with a home run and three doubles since the Dodgers allowed him to start swinging in games following a finger injury.
ANALYSIS
Vargas' spring slash line of .292/.452/.542 looks pretty good on the surface, but it's even better when taking into account the fact that he began the Cactus League schedule with orders from the team to not swing the bat. The rookie consequently racked up eight strikeouts (in eight at-bats) while simply tracking pitches before the restriction was lifted, and he's since shown no ill effects from the hairline fracture of his right pinky finger that he suffered early in camp. Vargas has also made some nice defensive plays at second base, where he's slated to log most of his time in a starting role this season.
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Batting Stats
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2022
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Batting Order Slot Breakdown
vs Right-Handed Pitchers
vs RHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
1
3
1
vs Left-Handed Pitchers
vs LHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
1
1
4
Left/Right Batting Splits
Since 2020
 
 
+7%
OPS vs LHP
2022
 
 
+7%
OPS vs LHP
2021
No Stats
2020
No Stats
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2020vs Left .471 24 3 1 4 0 .174 .167 .304
Since 2020vs Right .439 26 1 0 4 1 .167 .231 .208
2022vs Left .471 24 3 1 4 0 .174 .167 .304
2022vs Right .439 26 1 0 4 1 .167 .231 .208
2021vs Left 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2021vs Right 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2020vs Left 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2020vs Right 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
More Splits View More Split Stats
Home/Away Batting Splits
Since 2020
 
 
+51%
OPS on Road
2022
 
 
+51%
OPS on Road
2021
No Stats
2020
No Stats
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2020Home .406 38 4 1 3 0 .139 .184 .222
Since 2020Away .614 12 0 0 5 1 .273 .250 .364
2022Home .406 38 4 1 3 0 .139 .184 .222
2022Away .614 12 0 0 5 1 .273 .250 .364
2021Home 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2021Away 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2020Home 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2020Away 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
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Stat Review
How does Miguel Vargas compare to other hitters?
This section compares his stats with all batting seasons from the previous three seasons (minimum 400 plate appearances)*. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. For example, if the bar is halfway across, then the player falls into the 50th percentile for that stat and it would be considered average.

* Exit Velocity and Barrels/PA % are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 400 PA) and Hard Hit Rate is benchmarked against last season's data (min 400 PA). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.
  • BB/K
    Walk to strikeout ratio
  • BB Rate
    The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a walk.
  • K Rate
    The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a strikeout.
  • BABIP
    Batting average on balls in play. Measures how many of a batter’s balls in play go for hits.
  • ISO
    Isolated Power. Slugging percentage minus batting average. A computation used to measure a batter's raw power.
  • AVG
    Batting average. Hits divided by at bats.
  • OBP
    On Base Percentage. A measure of how often a batters reaches base. Roughly equal to number of times on base divided by plate appearances.
  • SLG
    Slugging Percentage. A measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats.
  • OPS
    On base plus slugging. THe sum of a batter's on-base percentage and slugging percentage.
  • wOBA
    Weighted on-base average. Measures a player's overall offensive contributions per plate appearance. wOBA combines all the different aspects of hitting into one metric, weighting each of them in proportion to their actual run value.
  • Exit Velocity
    The speed of the baseball as it comes off the bat, immediately after a batter makes contact.
  • Hard Hit Rate
    A measure of contact quality from Sports Info Solutions. This stat explains what percentage of batted balls were hit hard vs. medium or soft.
  • Barrels/PA
    The percentage of plate appearances where a batter had a batted ball classified as a Barrel. A Barrel is a batted ball with similar exit velocity and launch angle to past ones that led to a minimum .500 batting average and 1.500 slugging percentage.
  • Expected BA
    Expected Batting Average.
  • Expected SLG
    Expected Slugging Percentage.
  • Sprint Speed
    The speed of a runner from home to first, in feet per second.
  • Ground Ball %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are on the ground.
  • Line Drive %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are line drives.
  • Fly Ball %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are fly balls.
BB/K
0.15
 
BB Rate
4.0%
 
K Rate
26.0%
 
BABIP
.206
 
ISO
.085
 
AVG
.170
 
OBP
.200
 
SLG
.255
 
OPS
.455
 
wOBA
.202
 
Exit Velocity
89.7 mph
 
Hard Hit Rate
42.9%
 
Barrels/PA
6.0%
 
Expected BA
.205
 
Expected SLG
.338
 
Sprint Speed
23.6 ft/sec
 
Ground Ball %
34.3%
 
Line Drive %
14.3%
 
Fly Ball %
51.4%
 
Prospect Rankings History
Advanced Batting Stats
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Additional Stats
Games By Position
Defensive Stats
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Batted Ball Stats
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Stats Vs Upcoming Pitchers
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Recent RotoWire Articles Featuring Miguel Vargas See More
RotoWire Roundtable: Mid-March Fantasy Baseball Top 300 Update
8 days ago
The RotoWire Roundtable Rankings feature a new player at the top, with Ronald Acuna slipping past Trea Turner to lead a tightly-packed top five.
Rookie Hitter Tiers 2.0
15 days ago
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21 days ago
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RotoWire Roundtable: Updated Top-300 Fantasy Baseball Rankings
27 days ago
The RotoWire Roundtable crew shares their updated rankings, with changes as early as the second pick of the draft.
Spring Training Job Battles: National League
27 days ago
Erik Halterman covers every NL job up for grabs during spring training, including the shortstop job in Atlanta where Vaughn Grissom likely will battle it out with Orlando Arcia.
Past Fantasy Outlooks
2022
2020
2019
Always seen as a bat-first player with a strong hit tool, Vargas solidified himself as a top-50 prospect for dynasty leagues by hitting for significantly more power than he had to date against full-season pitching. He hit .319/.380/.526 with 23 home runs, a 16.4 K% and an 8.3 BB% in 120 games at High-A and Double-A. He was at least 40% better than the average hitter at each level and clearly has one of the better hit tools in the minors. Vargas will chase out of the zone a decent amount, but his ability to make contact and do damage on pitches in the zone allowed him to have a dominant season at an appropriate age (21) for his levels. Vargas got work at third base, second base and first base last season and could qualify at some combination of those positions in the majors. The Dodgers have a never-ending stream of infielders marching to the majors, but Vargas might be the best hitter of those who have yet to reach The Show. He will likely spend most of the year at Triple-A and could earn the call sometime this summer.
Vargas is a great hitter with an uncertain defensive home in an organization with seemingly unlimited depth on the position player side. This makes him a tricky player to evaluate for dynasty leagues. His 19.4 Hard% is a very poor mark for a player with his defensive profile, but considering over 35% of his hits went to the opposite field and he played half the year as a 19-year-old at High-A, we can excuse the lack of blistering contact for now. Vargas is a hitter first, and a power hitter second, but the power will have to come eventually for him to get playing time. As a 6-foot-3, 205-pound third baseman who throws and hits right-handed, it will be imperative that he maintains the lateral agility necessary to stick at the hot corner, as the Dodgers probably won't find room for a player of his ilk at first base. He kept his weight in check last season, which is an encouraging sign.
After a two-year absence from competitive baseball, Vargas burst onto the dynasty-league radar by leading the Pioneer League with a .394 AVG before earning a promotion to the Midwest League. Vargas, who turned 19 in November, defected from Cuba when he was 16 and signed with the Dodgers for $300,000 in September of 2017. He was too advanced for rookie-level pitchers, but met some resistance at Low-A. Vargas used the whole field at all three stops, but after his promotion to Low-A, his LD% plummeted from 25.3% to 17.9% and his GB% spiked from 38.0% to 51.8%, which largely explains his drop in production. Already 6-foot-3, 200 pounds, it is quite possible Vargas (R/R) will be a below-average defensive third baseman by the time he is big-league ready, but the Dodgers won't move him to first base until they absolutely have to. His offensive production has a chance to be good enough for mediocre defense to be tolerated at third base.
More Fantasy News
Takes first swings of spring
1BLos Angeles Dodgers
March 9, 2023
Vargas went 1-for-3 with a double and a strikeout in a Cactus League contest against Oakland on Thursday.
ANALYSIS
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Batting second Thursday
1BLos Angeles Dodgers
March 9, 2023
Vargas (finger) is hitting second in the Dodgers' Cactus League lineup Thursday against the Athletics, Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic reports.
ANALYSIS
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Not in lineup Wednesday
1BLos Angeles Dodgers
Finger
March 8, 2023
Vargas (finger) is not in the Dodgers' Cactus League lineup Wednesday night against the Mariners, Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic reports.
ANALYSIS
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Should resume swinging Wednesday
1BLos Angeles Dodgers
Finger
March 6, 2023
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said that Vargas (finger) is expected to resume swinging the bat in Wednesday's Cactus League game against the Mariners, Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times reports.
ANALYSIS
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Still not taking swings
1BLos Angeles Dodgers
Finger
March 4, 2023
Vargas (finger) will not take swings in Saturday's exhibition game, Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times reports.
ANALYSIS
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