Bummed-out Dodgers castoff's 2025 stats are even sadder than you imagined

Last year, former top Dodgers prospect Miguel Vargas went viral when he was caught on camera sitting alone in the White Sox's dugout on a rainy, miserable day after just one of Chicago's 121 total losses on the season.

His mood reflected the weather; he'd just been traded in a three-way deal between the Dodgers, White Sox, and Cardinals that netted LA Tommy Edman and Michael Kopech. When all was said and done, Vargas was the only major leaguer sentenced to having to play for the 2024 White Sox at the major league level.

The 2025 White Sox aren't doing any better. They're 4-13, the worst record in the American League by far, and have yet to win a game away from Rate Field (a place which is no longer even Guaranteed). Vargas was traded to be an immediate infield option for Chicago, but he hasn't been much of a solution for them this year.

Through 17 games, he's batting .143 with a .445 OPS, zero home runs, six RBI, and 19 strikeouts. Not only that, but he is second behind only Joc Pederson in lowest win probability added of all qualified players at -1.03 so far.

Former Dodgers top prospect Miguel Vargas is literally one of the worst players in baseball with the White Sox

After the trade last year, Vargas played in 42 games and batted an abysmal .104 with a .387 OPS after batting .239 with a .735 OPS with the Dodgers in 30 games before the deadline. His OPS+ dropped from 108 to 13.

Although there were some ways that we could've found a silver lining for Vargas — he was set to become an everyday player in Chicago while the Dodgers would never have been willing to give him more than a bench role — the cons overwhelmingly outweigh that single pro, which is really only a pro if you're a particularly optimistic person.

It's really hard to be a good player on a bad team, but Vargas is the worst of just four qualified White Sox in OPS and is second-worst in average, making him stand out in the saddest possible way.

Vargas still has four years of team control left, so unless he gets traded again, he's not going anywhere. It's a shame, given that he did occasionally show flashes of potential when he was with the Dodgers, but it's also hard for Dodgers fans to feel anything more than pity at this point.