Vargas' stellar work at hot corner earns first All-Star selection

CLEVELAND -- As manager of the White Sox, Will Venable can’t play favorites.

This idea would almost be like Venable ranking his four kids, which clearly would never happen. But Venable still could not contain his excitement over third baseman Miguel Vargas' first All-Star selection, as announced on Saturday night during the White Sox game against the Guardians at Progressive Field.

Pitcher Mike Vasil broke the news to Vargas in front of the team during a pregame meeting, although no magic wand was involved.

“I’m a big fan of Vargy and I think it really starts with the kind of guy he is,” Venable said. “The things that he does in the clubhouse, on the field for us, really even before you start talking about the excellent performance that he’s been able to really dial in and tap into this year. He is as good as anybody to represent this club and what we’re about.”

“It means a lot,” Vargas said. “I put a lot of hard work in there and it’s great to see some payoff.”

White Sox fans at Rate Field support Venable’s hypothesis, chanting “M-V-P” from time to time in response to Vargas’ well-rounded on-field excellence. The 26-year-old Vargas entered Saturday with a slash line of .248/.359/.495, a career-high 20 home runs, 16 doubles, 58 runs scored, 55 RBIs, 51 walks against 63 strikeouts and a career-high 11 stolen bases.

Vargas' defense has been solid as the team’s regular third baseman, becoming the first White Sox All-Star at the position since Joe Crede in 2008 and the sixth third baseman overall. Vargas is the seventh Cuban-born player in club history to be selected an All-Star and the first since Luis Robert Jr. in ‘23.

With first baseman Munetaka Murakami and his 20 homers gone five weeks due to a Grade 2 right hamstring strain as of July 3, Vargas also has stepped up into a more power-packed role. But the one-time trade acquisition from the Dodgers really has the ability to do it all offensively.

“You have all three of those skills and there’s endless possibilities,” White Sox hitting coach Derek Shomon said of Vargas. “Sky is truly the limit.

“He’s walking at an absolutely insane clip again. He does not miss in the strike zone. He’s got real thump to all fields. Yeah, that’s a fun player in the making for sure. “

Even with this treasured individual honor going to Vargas, his focus remained on the White Sox as a team. Vargas, who trailed only Junior Caminero among AL players in the balloting at third, praised his teammates and his coaches for helping him get to this point, for helping him find the joy in baseball again after a rough ‘24 where the team lost 121 games and he hit .104 over 157 plate appearances.

Those days have greatly changed for Vargas. But both Vargas and Venable thought their current playoff team, one of the top stories of the ‘26 season, should have had more players joining him in Philadelphia.

“Yeah, I’m really disappointed. I’m like pissed about it, honestly,” Venable said. “I just think we have so many good candidates. And as good as this team has played, that they’re deserving. At the same time, maybe it’s emblematic of the type of team we have. We always talk about how we’re getting contributions from different parts of our roster. So I get it. There’s some other guys that are deserving and hopefully we get some other guys sneaking in there.’

“I truly believe that more than one guy deserves to go to the All-Star [Game] from this team,” Vargas said. “But I’m glad to represent all of them. They have been great for me and I’m very excited to have this All-Star.”

Miguel Vargas, 3B
Previous All-Star appearances: First
Something to know: There are two players in Major League Baseball who have at least 15 doubles, 20 home runs and 10 stolen bases. The Nationals' James Wood is one, and Vargas is the other. Wood is a second-time National League All-Star, but Vargas is the lone Minnesota Vikings fan of the two.