This story was excerpted from Scott Merkin’s White Sox Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
PEORIA, Ariz. -- There have been some outstanding times for Miguel Vargas during his White Sox stint, beginning with a trade from the Dodgers at the 2024 Deadline. There also have been somewhat forgettable stretches, which Vargas has put far behind him upon entering the 2026 campaign.
Through the good and bad, the ups and downs, Luis Robert Jr. was always there for Vargas. The two were teammates on the 2015 Cuban Junior National team taking part in the 18-and-under Baseball World Cup in Japan, so it only made sense they would one day be reunited in professional baseball.
That teammate status was changed on Jan. 20, when Robert was traded to the Mets for Luisangel Acuña and Truman Pauley. Their clubhouse lockers, once stationed next to each other, moved 800 miles apart.
Vargas is now an entrenched part of this young White Sox core and becoming a leader at age 26. He’s showing the same bond of friendship as Robert did to him to the younger players or new players on the current White Sox roster, including first baseman Munetaka Murakami, who came to Chicago from Japan on a two-year, $34 million deal.
Murakami is currently with Team Japan, defending their World Baseball Classic title. But with their clubhouse lockers separated only by interpreter Kenzo Yagi, and with the duo working at first base and third base, they had quite a few Arizona moments together.
“He’s giving me a lot of tips on how to field, a lot of small things,” said Murakami through Yagi. “A lot of advice to make me better.”
“Having the experience of coming to a new clubhouse, you want to make everyone feel welcome, feel warm,” Vargas said. “When I got here, Luis made a big impact on that with me. I just want to make everybody around me feel the same.”
Vargas is an exceedingly upbeat and positive individual. He walks around Spring Training with a smile carrying all the way over to the regular season, engaging in conversations and joking with everyone from the players to the coaches to the media.
When it comes to Murakami, it is more about getting to know him.
“Just talked to him, a couple of jokes,” Vargas said. “We’ve been talking a lot on the defense side. It has been great. We are having a good time for sure.”
This Vargas kindness has reached the younger generation of players. He is part of a youth baseball initiative in Miami dubbed Team Vargas. He collaborates with his brother, Alejandro Echarri, who oversees the whole program.
Before Vargas departed for Spring Training, they ran an event giving baseball stuff ranging from hats to gloves to bats to these participating kids. For the first time in the past four years, they were able to do the event for free thanks to some key sponsorships.
“That’s one of the best moments for me during the year, especially before I came here, having time with the kids,” Vargas said. “I learned so much from them. We also have tournaments.
“We mix all the kids, we make four teams and then I coach one, my brother coaches the other, my dad coaches another and then one of our friends coaches the other one. We battle every day, competing. It’s super fun too.”
The White Sox play at the Marlins from March 30 to April 1 to conclude the first road trip of the ’26 season, and 40 to 50 of these players will be in attendance. Robert helped with this pre-Spring Training event, showing the friendship doesn’t break because of a trade.
There was a moment in February though, when Vargas envisioned them still being teammates.
“Even the first day I got here, I was walking outside to the cage and I see somebody has red shoes like he was wearing and I was like, ‘Ah,’” Vargas said. “And then I was like, ‘Oh, yeah. He’s not here anymore.’
“We talk almost every day. I’m going to miss him a lot. He’s my brother, and you know I hope nothing but the best for him.”
The on-field potential for Vargas is just as important to the White Sox as his mentorship, with the potential for 25 or 30 homers shown off Tuesday against the Padres in his first long ball of the spring. Not surprisingly, Vargas is about helping push the team toward success over individual goals, aside from staying healthy.
“I was talking about it in the first half when I said we need to learn how to win games,” Vargas said. “We were able to do it in the second half.
“It says a lot for our team. I think now a couple of pieces for the clubhouse is going to help us even more.”