Miguel

Vargas

Incredibly enough, it’s Vargas’s first multi-hit game for the White Sox. He also doubled his homer and steal totals. He came into the day batting just .108/.223/.162 in 35 games for his new team.

This time, he’s sitting even though the White Sox are facing a left-hander. No matter how badly Vargas has performed since being acquired from the Dodgers, we can’t imagine how it makes any sense for the White Sox to give Gavin Sheets at-bats over him against a lefty. Still, that’s what they’re doing. Sheets, for the record, has hit .162/.214/.222 in 168 career plate appearances against southpaws.

It’s a positive sign to see Vargas back at third base and batting eighth after missing a pair of contests following an on-field collision earlier this week in which he suffered a left eye abrasion.

Vargas left Tuesday’s game with an abrasion above his left eye, and he won’t be back in the starting lineup for Wednesday’s tilt. Lenyn Sosa is handling third base with Vargas unavailable to begin the contest.

Vargas, who started the contest at third base, left the game with an apparent head injury following an ugly collision with teammate Andrew Benintendi in shallow left field where he took an elbow to the face. The 24-year-old will undoubtedly undergo testing and evaluation for a possible concussion, but the positive news is that he appears to have avoided serious injury. There should be an update on his status soon.

The 24-year-old drove in a run on a fielder’s choice ground out, which about sums up how the White Sox offense has been playing of late. Despite some success at Triple-A this year, Vargas has not been able to carry it over to the big leagues at all and time may be running out for him to prove that he’s worthy of being a regular starter at the MLB level.

There was hope that Vargas would flourish following a trade from the Dodgers the cleared the path for him to see every day at-bats. Unfortunately, he has responded by slashing a cringe-inducing .093/.219/.167 with one homer, three RBI and a 17/8 K/BB ratio in 64 plate appearances with his new club. Lenyn Sosa is starting in his place at the hot corner and batting eighth against Keider Montero and the Tigers on Friday night.

The White Sox are off tomorrow, so this means Vargas will have played three out of six days. He’s obviously off to a rough start for the White Sox, but considering that the team gave up Erick Fedde AND Michael Kopech for him, it might make sense just to let him play.

It looks to be just a routine night off for Vargas, who has settled in as the team’s regular third baseman. Lenyn Sosa will start in his place and will bat sixth on Saturday evening in Houston.

The White Sox want to provide the 24-year-old with some consistency, so he can expect to see his name on the lineup card at third base for most games going forward. Vargas is hitting just .190/.271/.352 with four homers, 11 RBI and one stolen base in 118 plate appearances on the season.