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Vargas Rewrites Great Lakes’ Hit Streak Record
Vargas Rewrites Great Lakes' Hit Streak Record
Chris Jared
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Returning from the 2019 Great Lakes Loons, Miguel Vargas began a familiar piece in the lineup over a span of two seasons at Dow Diamond for the Dodgers’ system. Vargas was named a 2019 Midwest League Post-Season All-Star, last accomplished by 2015 Loon Alex Verdugo. After ending 2018 in Midland, Vargas earned the postseason accolades following a .325 batting average in 70 games that saw a mid-year promotion to High-A Rancho Cucamonga. With the rerouting of minor league affiliates across the MiLB in 2020, most professional ball players would be sent to a new location to play their home games at a different level. For Vargas, 2021 was season number three at Dow Diamond, now at the High-A level.
Vargas entered the 2021 year with nine homeruns over a span of nearly 180 games with four different teams in three years. The highest stretch of homeruns for Vargas came when he tallied five in 70 games for John Shoemaker’s 2019 Great Lakes Loons. The Cuban-native Vargas showed a positive trend on Opening Night on May 4 at Dow Diamond, scoring the first runs of the season for Great Lakes with a two-run homerun. Little did anyone know, that homer for Vargas would preface a new franchise record of a 26-game hit streak, an accomplishment that hadn’t been touched since it was set by Brian Cavazos-Galvez with the 2010 Loons. In every nine-inning game since opening night, Vargas successfully reached base, establishing an on-base streak of 32 games. Vargas received the promotion to Double-A Tulsa on June 16, continuing his climb up the Dodgers system.
As a 21-year-old native from La Habana, Cuba, baseball for Vargas was woven into the fabrics of his childhood by his father, Lazaro, who played 22 years for the Havana Industriales in Cuba’s Series Nacional. During that span, Lazaro was a critical piece in Team Cuba’s back-to-back gold medal summers in the 1992 and 1996 Summer Olympics. Vargas signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers as an international free agent at age 17 in September 2017 after defecting from Cuba to Miami in 2015 with his father Lazaro. Vargas bounced to three different sites in the Dodgers’ system in his inaugural 2018 season of professional baseball, beginning with the AZL Dodgers, then with former rookie-advanced Ogden, and finishing the season in a Great Lakes uniform. Vargas watched his batting average jump from a .213 in 2018 to the promotion-worthy .325 average in 70 games in 2019, ending the year with the former High-A Quakes of Rancho Cucamonga. Fans expected the friendly face and play style of Vargas to return in 2021, but the power of the Loons third baseman was something most might not have expected, but certainly welcomed.
Returning from the 2019 Great Lakes Loons, Miguel Vargas began a familiar piece in the lineup over a span of two seasons at Dow Diamond for the Dodgers’ system. Vargas was named a 2019 Midwest League Post-Season All-Star, last accomplished by 2015 Loon Alex Verdugo. After ending 2018 in Midland, Vargas earned the postseason accolades following a .325 batting average in 70 games that saw a mid-year promotion to High-A Rancho Cucamonga. With the rerouting of minor league affiliates across the MiLB in 2020, most professional ball players would be sent to a new location to play their home games at a different level. For Vargas, 2021 was season number three at Dow Diamond, now at the High-A level.
Vargas entered the 2021 year with nine homeruns over a span of nearly 180 games with four different teams in three years. The highest stretch of homeruns for Vargas came when he tallied five in 70 games for John Shoemaker’s 2019 Great Lakes Loons. The Cuban-native Vargas showed a positive trend on Opening Night on May 4 at Dow Diamond, scoring the first runs of the season for Great Lakes with a two-run homerun. Little did anyone know, that homer for Vargas would preface a new franchise record of a 26-game hit streak, an accomplishment that hadn’t been touched since it was set by Brian Cavazos-Galvez with the 2010 Loons. In every nine-inning game since opening night, Vargas successfully reached base, establishing an on-base streak of 32 games. Vargas received the promotion to Double-A Tulsa on June 16, continuing his climb up the Dodgers system.
As a 21-year-old native from La Habana, Cuba, baseball for Vargas was woven into the fabrics of his childhood by his father, Lazaro, who played 22 years for the Havana Industriales in Cuba’s Series Nacional. During that span, Lazaro was a critical piece in Team Cuba’s back-to-back gold medal summers in the 1992 and 1996 Summer Olympics. Vargas signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers as an international free agent at age 17 in September 2017 after defecting from Cuba to Miami in 2015 with his father Lazaro. Vargas bounced to three different sites in the Dodgers’ system in his inaugural 2018 season of professional baseball, beginning with the AZL Dodgers, then with former rookie-advanced Ogden, and finishing the season in a Great Lakes uniform. Vargas watched his batting average jump from a .213 in 2018 to the promotion-worthy .325 average in 70 games in 2019, ending the year with the former High-A Quakes of Rancho Cucamonga. Fans expected the friendly face and play style of Vargas to return in 2021, but the power of the Loons third baseman was something most might not have expected, but certainly welcomed.
