It's been just over a month since Miguel Vargas altered his hand setup and became the most dangerous hitter in the White Sox lineup. With all due respect to the prestige of the American League Player of the Week award, hitting .316/.382/.607 for a 31-game stretch on a last place team has probably not been enough to make him a household name yet.
But a question that doesn't feel too premature to ask: is Vargas already the most famous Cuban-born Minnesota Vikings fan?
"2023, Triple-A, we were talking about fantasy football and he wasn't really a big football fan, but a lot of us were," said Cubs first baseman and native Minnesotan Michael Busch. "Vargas and I talked about fantasy so much that all of a sudden he becomes a Vikings fan, a football fan, a Justin Jefferson fan. Next thing you know he's flying out to Minnesota to watch a Vikings game. All that stuff, I think it's just really cool to do things outside of just baseball."
Busch was a first round pick in 2019, and didn't meet Vargas until the following season. Every year after that, until he was traded to the Cubs in January of 2024 and became their regular first baseman, Busch and Vargas were teammates every year in the Dodgers farm system.
"I've known Bushy for probably five years now," Vargas said. "He always helped me with my English, with everything. We're kind of like brothers. I call him one of my best friends. I'm really glad to have met him on my way to the big leagues."
Their close friendship is such that Busch's description of a funny and outgoing Vargas doesn't line up much with the version that was more familiar with White Sox fans up until a month ago: a soft-spoken player seemingly shell-shocked by the drastic change in station that last July's trade from the Dodgers brought to his life. After coming up through the minors together, Busch and Vargas' paths wound up mirroring once more when they both found themselves traded from a stacked Dodgers depth chart to different Chicago teams that could offer them playing time. That process comes with an adjustment period.
"I kind of went through the same thing last year," Busch said. "I didn't know anybody coming over here. It took a little time to get comfortable, took a little time to get comfortable with the people, the place, everything. There's so much that goes into it. I think that's the same for him. Playing everyday, getting more comfortable with his teammates, coaches, the city, all that stuff, it plays a little bit of a factor. But I think he's always been a guy that's hit."
Busch would more readily recognize this current, more demonstrative version of Vargas that's been on display to everyone over the last month, and he definitely recognizes the bat.
"He didn't take things too seriously, but also loved playing the game, played it hard and really cared," said Busch, who didn't love seeing his friend's skills emerge against his own team during a monster weekend at Wrigley. "This level, no matter who you are, no matter what you've done, it's difficult. It's difficult. At times, you're going to go through ebbs and flows. But at the same time, he's always been a good hitter. I know he's struggled a little bit trying to find his groove, but to gain a little confidence and find comfort somewhere is going to be good for him."
Recent weeks have certainly found Vargas in a groove. Now he's joking in media scrums that he asked Brad Keller about his favorite restaurant after their dustup over a hit-by-pitch, playfully chiding reporters for questioning his power, and explaining that his strangely high-pitched celebratory barks in the Sox dugout after homers is him embodying a 20-pound Chihuahua. More seriously, he speaks about feeling like a last-place team is slowly moving in the right direction and now has the results to give it some heft.
"Something that I've been working on, being in the present and being where I am right now," Vargas said. "Sometimes we don't get the result that we wanted and we get so sad about it. But when you've got weeks like this and you see a good process going on, you feel like you're back. You've got to keep trusting what you're doing and keep doing it."
Vargas' mix of confidence and playfulness wears best on a player who is comfortable with his own abilities on the field, and thus was understandably muted as he stumbled through career-worst struggles on a new team last year. Now that he's playing to the level he expects of himself again, with strength gains that he credits for even enabling his swing adjustment to have such an impact against elevated velocity, Vargas doesn't wear much concern that the league has a countermove to his new swing that's going to snatch his new self-assurance away.
"It changed a little bit, but it's kind of the same: They have to throw it in the zone," Vargas said of how pitchers have attacked him since his breakout. "They have their plan and I have my mine. If they fail and throw me a good pitch to hit, I should be able to hit it."
And with this latent level of self-assurance, even as a younger player, newer to the country that he has since become a citizen of, Vargas was not the type to sit on the sidelines for event that carries the unparalleled magnitude in a baseball clubhouse of a fantasy football draft. By Busch's description, Vargas was regularly inquiring about American culture, trying out his English which he now gives interviews in without an interpreter. And every August, the dominant piece of American culture to absorb is fantasy draft prep.
With Busch, a native of suburban Minneapolis, as his primary guide into this world, Vargas quickly became sold on the unique merits of wide receiver Justin Jefferson's skill set and production. Full-out Vikings fandom soon followed, and this past offseason, Vargas flew in from his home in Florida to tag along with Busch for a punishing full-day schedule of a Vikings game in the day and a Minnesota Wild game at night. Just a guy from Havana sitting through a zamboni break with his friend, because of baseball.
"It's just been cool to see him so excited about football," Busch said. "That's not what he grew up with. No matter where he's from, whether it's America or from Cuba, just getting into the culture of the Midwest, the hockey culture, is really cool."
Without Busch in the clubhouse, Vargas will have to settle for impromptu debates with MLB.com's Scott Merkin about whether it's wise to turn the offense of what he feels sure is a playoff team over to Michigan product J.J. McCarthy (if Vargas' production tails off in the dog days of summer, the culprit could be a different kind of fatigue). And with the alternating schedules the Cubs and White Sox have, it might not be until the end of the year when Vargas and Busch can hang out again, or maybe even later.
"I told him I'll probably go to Minnesota this year to watch them when they go to the playoffs," Vargas said.
He's sure they're going to make it?
"What? Of course. C'mon."
