The Cuban third baseman Miguel Vargas hit his 24th home run of the season this Sunday at Tropicana Field in Tampa, tying the Japanese player Kazuma Okamoto for the second-highest number of home runs by a third baseman in the 2026 Major League Baseball season.
According to the specialized journalist Francys Romero on his Facebook account, the hit occurred in the ninth inning of the game where the Chicago White Sox crushed the Tampa Bay Rays 9-1.
The home run was a two-run shot to left-center field with a launch velocity of 104.9 mph, an angle of 24 degrees, and a distance of 413 feet, according to MLB Statcast data.
With that home run, Vargas moved into second place in the 2026 ranking of home run-hitting third basemen, tied with Okamoto (Toronto Blue Jays), just behind another Cuban, Junior Caminero (Tampa Bay Rays), who leads the list with 30 home runs.
The Habanero has become the main offensive source for a White Sox team that, as of the end of this Sunday, leads the American League Central Division with a record of 47-43, one game ahead of the Cleveland Guardians (47-44).
The 2026 season is, by far, the best of his career. His overall statistics in 89 games played include an average of .245, 56 runs batted in, 61 runs scored, 11 stolen bases, and an OPS of .851.
The rise of Vargas has been consistent throughout the entire campaign. In June, he matched his personal record of 16 home runs in just 65 games, a feat that took him the entire 2025 season to achieve. On July 5, he was selected for the All-Star Game with 20 home runs, and on July 27, he entered the historical list of the White Sox for third basemen by tying with Joe Crede (2006) and Matt Davidson (2017) with 22 home runs.
Born on November 17, 1999, in Havana, Vargas is the son of former Cuban player Lázaro Vargas. He made his debut in the National Series with Industriales in 2014, left Cuba at the age of 16, and signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers in September 2017 for $300,000. His MLB debut took place on August 3, 2022 with that same organization, and he was acquired by the White Sox in 2024 through a three-team trade.
Vargas was also one of the seven Cubans selected for the 2026 All-Star Game, a historic representation of the Island at the mid-season event.
With Caminero in the lead with 30 home runs and Vargas in second place with 24, two Cubans occupy the top two spots in the rankings of home run-hitting third basemen for the 2026 MLB season.
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