Miguel Vargas' bat speed is up this year.
Statcast has him averaging 72.4 mph on his swings so far this season, an increase from 70.6 mph in 2025. If that sounds like a relatively small difference, fair enough, but such are the margins at the highest level of the sport that it's vaulted him from well-below average (25th percentile) to a hair above (54th). He's not touting it as a sea change, but just work that was necessary.
"I tried to do it during the offseason because I'm trying to do more damage in the zone, and have to swing harder, I guess," Vargas said, though he doesn't want that interpreted as an effort to sell out for power. "I'm just trying to do the same job every time I go to the box. If there's a guy in scoring position, obviously I want to drive them in. Just trying to do damage when I can, and if not, I trust the guy next to me to hit good pitches."
That last part is a common hitting axiom, but few commit to it more than Vargas. He swings at 17.1 percent of pitches outside of the strike zone, which is both the lowest chase rate of any qualified hitter on the White Sox, and the eighth-lowest in the sport. So why aren't we writing about his breakout?
Vargas' burly walk rate is propping up a .155/.296/.293 batting line through 17 games, and likely a big issue is that it's only been 17 games, which isn't enough time for a .182 BABIP to normalize.
"I always think Vargas looks good," said Will Venable. "He had some stints last year where, yeah, it looked maybe a little bit slower. Probably my fault for playing him so much, it was more of a result of just being overused, honestly. I always think Vargas looks good, good swing decisions, he definitely looks quicker at the plate. He looks like the best version of himself."
Many in this space are probably familiar with Vargas' mechanical change from early last season, where he raised his hands in his setup to better cover the top of the strike zone. It produced monstrous early results, which leveled off in a gradual way that probably didn't draw much focus to how he's tweaked it since.
Essentially, instead of more-or-less holding the position he wants to get into when he starts his swing, Vargas now settles into it with a move he can time up with the beginning of the pitcher's delivery. He says it lends a feel of rhythm to his operation, and hitters typically talk about being able to see the ball better and recognize spin when they're in sync with the opposition.
The rub is that thus far, Vargas isn't catching balls out front yet. His average contact point has backed up a touch from last season and his .382 expected slugging percentage against fastballs (it went up last night) is down from .465 in 2025. Adding 1.8 mph of bat speed helps, but it hasn't suddenly given Vargas the all-fields power for his fly balls to right to provide production.
With more fluidity is the risk that Vargas' bat path gets longer, and the perfect marriage between the quick-fire explosiveness of his initial setup change, and the rhythm that produces his elite swing decisions, has yet to take place. Even if generally, a judicious hitter who has juiced his bat speed significantly -- and is whiffing less -- is a reason to be optimistic.
"I just try to focus on myself and what I can do and what I can control, and that's it," Vargas said. "I feel like controlling the zone, that's one of my biggest strengths, so I try to lean toward that and be the best I can be."
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If Chuck Garfien said he'd gladly accept a world where Munetaka Murakami posted a ~.780 OPS and over 30 home runs but was under the Mendoza line, it makes sense that White Sox employees seem content with their new first baseman sitting at .179/.365/.446 (128 wRC+) through 18 games. Getting picked off for forgetting the count wasn't a great look at the end of Wednesday, but Murakami's public performance reviews have a warm tone, even while acknowledging that's not a triple-slash someone reaches without some choppy points.
"I think he is going through an adjustment period with catching up to some fastballs," Chris Getz said. "I know our offensive group is on it and Mune's working hard. We know what he's capable of doing. The great thing is he's already shown [it] and I know that he believes in himself, so I think more than anything we're back at home. Getting back into a home routine I think is going to serve him well."
Murakami is on a 45-homer pace after obliterating a Yoendrys Gómez heater in mop-up time Tuesday night, he hit a 114 mph foul ball on Wednesday, and he has reached base six times during this series against the Rays. That the team has played too poorly for any of these moments to matter isn't going to dim the importance to someone adjusting to a new league.
"I’m seeing the ball a lot better now and I’m really getting into the plate with a lot more confidence, that came as the result today," Murakami said via interpreter on Tuesday. "The pitchers have come out with a different variety of pitches obviously from the first series and now. But again, it’s about getting used to it. I’m seeing a lot of pitches right now, getting used to it and getting that preparation is my first priority."
Murakami's contact rate is 64.9 percent in the early going, which -- duh -- is low, but not even bottom-10 among qualified MLB hitters this season. More importantly, it's a slight increase from his last season in NPB, when it was 63 percent. On balance, if he could hold serve on the level of swing-and-miss he had in Japan, it would be a revelation. But what Getz is referring to is that all his production is against velocity at this point (seven of his 10 hits, all five of his homers), with whiff rates over 50 percent on breaking balls.
So while this current production level is palatable, if not traditionally aesthetically pleasing (17 walks to 10 hits is kind of incredible to witness), there's also a clear route to how Murakami will be attacked going forward in the current numbers. That leads to a lot of quotes preaching patience as he adjusts into building something more sustainable-looking.
"There will be some swing-and-miss in there, which is fine," Venable said. "As the league continues to find ways to attack him, he’s going to have to make adjustments. You have to keep going. We know he can hit. We know he makes good swing decisions. He has the power. It will come together for him here soon."
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Getz shot down the idea of Grant Taylor eventually graduating to something resembling a full-length start this season.
"I don't anticipate that, I don't," Getz said. "We went to two innings out of the gate, I guess potentially we could go to three at some point. At this point, it's more kind of knowing roughly where we want the marker to be and utilize him in different roles and making sure he's recovering well."
A bump to three-inning portions will likely be necessary at some point to meet the other workload stipulation Getz reiterated for Taylor.
"Roughly 100 innings I think is a good marker for him," Getz said. "I think he's more than capable of doing that and like I said, there's different way to get there."
Taylor is currently on pace for around 77 innings this year, which is more in the realm of a heavily-used setup man. It stands to reason that his innings pace wouldn't be at top speed before Tax Day, but between a lower cap for his longest outings and the logistical needs of having him available for high-leverage spots, the path to 100 is narrow and will require a clean bill of health throughout.
In this way, opening is probably the more realistic way for Taylor to get opportunities to take a full turn through a lineup, rather than Goose Gossage-style three-inning high-leverage relief appearances. But despite what it might look like at portions of their 6-12 start, the Sox are trying to win more games this year, too, and it remains to be seen how often they'll just find themselves keeping him available for leverage work rather than stretching him out.
After all, Jordan Leasure is opening Thursday afternoon.
