Apr 7, 2024; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Kansas City Royals pitcher James McArthur (66) slaps hands with Kansas City Royals catcher Freddy Fermin (34) after the game against the Chicago White Sox at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: William Purnell-USA TODAY Sports
Dodgers Could Move Miguel Vargas Back to Third Base as Max Muncy Remains Out
The Los Angeles Dodgers have been plagued with issues at third base since Max Muncy was placed on the 10-day injured list on May 17 with a right oblique strain.
Muncy has been transferred to the 60-day IL since then and doesn’t appear to be returning to the lineup any time soon, which means the Dodgers are still searching for a solution.
The Dodgers have relied on Kiké Hernández, Cavan Biggio, and Chris Taylor to fill in but none of them have the offensive numbers that Muncy has. Could manager Dave Roberts turn to Miguel Vargas instead?
Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic shared Roberts’ opinion with a post on X (formerly Twitter).
Vargas only has one big league inning at third since making his debut in 2022 but has 2,792.2 innings there in the minors. He also played 175 innings at third base in Triple-A in 2023. On July 5, he was spotted on the field before the game taking ground balls at the hot corner with infield coach Dino Ebel.
“I think it’s just more of giving him time to get acclimated over there at third base,” Roberts told reporters Friday in Detroit, including Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group. “We’ve really tried to get him to focus on playing left field and I just don’t think it’s fair to him to now try and perform in the batter’s box and play a position I don’t think he’s played in the big leagues … then to just throw him out there. We just want to give him time to kind of get his re-conditioning at third base down.”
Vargas has been moved around throughout his professional career. He spent the majority of last season at second base and was moved to left field during spring training. If he can gain confidence at third base and swing a hot bat, Vargas might be able to finally break through with a more permanent place on the big league club.
